Image of intellectuals in the twenty-first century: the difficulties to understand their social role in contemporary society

Abstract

This work, which translates an intellectual concern, and tries to understand not only who an intellectual is today, but also his role in contemporary society, aims to show the ambiguous and hybrid character of the intellectual nowadays. This objective is followed by some questions: who can we consider, without any mistake, an intellectual in the postmodern and problematic society, which is also full of contradictions and controversies? Which characteristics define an intellectual today: commitment to universal and humanitarian causes, to a social and political cause aimed to the low income population, media exhibition, serving the ruling class and reproducing its values at the expense of the exploited, devotion to writing books and articles, doing researches? The role of sociology is to understand, interpret, conceptualize, theorize and discuss the dynamics of social phenomena of which the emergence of the intellectuals is a part of. So, being a reflection on the status and the social function of the intellectuals, this article aims to discuss the image that they project in the XXI century, questioning their role and place in society, and the relationships that are kept between the media and them, and considering all the power of dissemination, advertising, exhibition and visibility.