The future of intellectuals and the rise of the new class : a frame of reference, theses, conjectures, arguments, and an historical perspective on the role of intellectuals and intelligentsia in the international class contest of the modern era

by Alvin Ward Gouldner

Dialectical Materialism, History, sociology

Genres: Sociology, Politics, Philosophy, Education, Cultural

121 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Livia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually pretty interesting compared to everything else I've read for this class this semester. Some really interesting ideas about how "the New Class," believing it has no selfish interest, unlike the Old Class they despise, contains the seeds of its own destruction. My favorite part though is that the Goodreads title is a paragraph long and how the book cover is just a picture of the physical book.

[Gökalp Aral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Açıkçası hocamızın (Vefa Saygın Öğütle) tabakalaşma dersinde karşıma çıkmasıyla tanıştığım bir ad olur Gouldner ancak sonrasında fark ettiğim kadarıyla özünde ne ülkemizde ne de dünyanın geri kalanında çok da ünlü bir ad sayılmaz. Buna rağmen ben, yazdıklarını kıymetli buluyorum, her ne kadar kitabın başlangıcında Marx'ın ve komünistlerin öngörülerinin yanıldığını söyleyerek başladığı eleştiriye kendisi de maruz kalabilirse de çünkü onun söylediği gibi bir "yeni sınıf" sosyalizmi söz konusu değil ne ülkemizde ne de dünyada. Hatta tam tersine orta sınıfta bir küçülme söz konusu, Türkiye için konuşursak.
Yine de dediğim gibi, söyledikleri; yeni sınıf, kültürel burjuvazi, hümanist aydınlarla teknik entelijansiya çatışması, eleştirel söylem kültürü gibi onun büyük ölçüde kazandırdığı kavramlar da, okumaya değerler.

[Volbet · Rating 5 out of 5]

If it wasn't for this book being out of print since the Reagan Administration, this would have been a perfect gift for the recent college graduate in your life.
"Congratulation on your BA in English and theater. Here's a book to tell you why you'll never be above class and how you'll never again speak in the interest of the proletariat."

As good and compelling as I found Alvin Gouldner's thesis' and arguments, this book does show that it was written in the 1970's. That doesn't mean that history has necessarily proven Gouldner's arguments wrong, but a lot of the book begs for an update for the 21st century.

The core of Gouldner's argument is still very relevant though, that the intellectuals, a group that has often spoken in favor of the working class, is actually emerging as a new class with their own culture and adherences. And both the culture and adherences are contrary to those of the proletariat.
And even Gouldner's speculation about how the intellectuals would displace the traditional capitalist bourgeoisie. When a good chunk of wealth in the 21st century is held in abstract property, industry has increasingly moved towards outputting knowledge, and some of the richest people on the planet are seen as public intellectuals, it really does seem like Gouldner was on the money.

However, I think it's worth wondering if it's still fair to class people with higher education together as a New Class, which is what Gouldner did. That grouping might have made sense in the late-70's, but now that the percentage of the US population has almost quadrupled since this book was released, it might be worth reconsidering if college graduates can stil be seen as a collective and can still be excluded from the proletariat.

[{tion} · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great...

The line of reasoning and conspiratorial thinking here are highly frustrating. Conservatives will love Gouldner because here is a guy who purports to be a marxist, and yet he critiques the left! They will be enraptured by this.

I'm not sure, but I think Gouldner in this book may have been the origin of the now common take from the right that "the left don't care AT ALL about marginalized people! They're just as egotistical and self-serving as the right!"

Gouldner at his best critiques ideology by making ideologies fight against one another and against themselves. At his worst he reads like right wing shill who gives a bad-faith conspiracy-based reading of the left which seeks to absolve any pro-capitalist egotist of any shred of pesky feelings like guilt.

Gouldner reminds me of this bus driver in my town. One day she noticed people on the bus were looking at some people on the corner panhandling for change. The people on the bus were like "oh that's too bad..." (that destitution is a reality and what not) and, noticing this, the bus driver goes "You know, I hear if you try to give them food--- they'll SPIT on ya!!!"

What this is meant to do is say "Hey, don't worry about them, about 'supposedly' poor people, they're con artists! They're fakers, plus I hear they're ingrates and so helping them is not only unnecessary, they're thankless jerks and you'd be a CHUMP to do so!"

Therefore, your virtue is in admitting you're selfish, you needn't do anymore than that, according to Gouldner.

[wyclif · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat dated treatment of the "new intellectuals" that was written in the late 1970's. Gouldner explores how this new class of intellectuals (mostly associated with academia and the media class) were more critical of established structures, aligning themselves with various social movements and advocating for change and reform. It would be interesting to see how Gouldner would update his thesis in 2023, but unfortunately he died about a year after this book was published.

[Emil O. W. Kirkegaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting but mainly a historical curiosity.