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  1. Home
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  3. Civility and Subversion
  • Cited by 60
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
July 2010
Print publication year:
1998
Online ISBN:
9780511581717
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581717
Subjects:
Politics: General Interest, Sociology: General Interest, Politics and International Relations, Sociology
Information

Book description

This 1998 book provides a sophisticated alternative to existing accounts of the role of the intellectual in modern democracy. Arguing that society suffers from a systemic deliberation deficit, Jeffrey Goldfarb explores the potential of the intellectual as democratic agent, at once civilizing political contestation and subverting complacent consensus. The sentimental Leftist view of the intellectual as guardian of democracy and the demonising Rightist view of the intellectual as obstructor of progress, are both shown to be flawed. Instead, intellectuals are portrayed as special kinds of 'strangers' who pay careful attention to their critical faculties, equipping them uniquely to address the most pressing issues of today. Professor Goldfarb deploys classical and contemporary social theory to analyse a diverse set of intellectuals in action, from Socrates in fifth-century Athens to Malcolm X and Toni Morrison in twentieth-century America, and, drawing on personal acquaintance, the political dissidents in Communist and post-Communist Central Europe.

Reviews

"This is a serious book by an exceptionally thoughtful, learned scholar." Canadian Journal of Sociology Online

"This is a fine book. It is also an honest book. It avoids easy rhetoric and facile posturing. It will, no doubt, annoy some of its readers. It contributes to an important debate, the significance of which extendds beyond the confines of the American academy." Jeremy Jennings, Social Forces

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