From the Actor to the Actions. Sociology and the Transformations of Intellectuals towards Network Society

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the transformation of intellectuals in contemporary global post-industrial society, through a critical review on sociological studies and researches. The thesis is that contemporary intellectuals should not consider a socio-cultural élite or vanguard but a swarm of social actors defined by their relationship with the digital media and the economic sphere. After two introductive paragraphs focused on the critic approach – it is based on the new knowledge sociology –  the third and the fourth ones argues the most important studies on intellectuals wrote in industrial society age (theory of the New Class, New-Marxism theory, Weberanian theory, sociology of knowledge). The least paragraphs are focused on a discussion about the new sociology of intellectuals in a post-industrial society and the problem of the relationships between digital media and the intellectual actions in contemporary world.