Pérez-Jara / Rudas Dramatic Intellectuals

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-3-031-89909-6
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 298 Seiten

Reihe: Cultural Sociology

This edited volume advances meaning-centered approaches to understanding the social construction of public intellectuals and their enduring influence on contemporary societies. The contributors reject reductionist perspectives that depict intellectuals and their ideas as mere byproducts of broader social forces. Instead, the volume champions a multidimensional approach that recognizes the semi-autonomy and causal power of intellectual discourses. At the core of this framework is the concept of dramatic intellectuals—figures who navigate collective anxieties and hopes, shaping public discourse through master narratives of salvation and catastrophe, utopia and apocalypse. Through diverse case studies, the volume identifies key features of their master stories, including stark binaries, the social construction of meta-adversaries and meta-saviors, the mobilization of cultural traumas and ideological packs, and the Cassandra complex. Each chapter examines at least one pivotal dramatic intellectual within her cultural context, exploring how these figures shape public discourse and collective imagination. The volume covers a diverse range of intellectuals, including Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Frantz Fanon, Jean-Paul Sartre, Bertrand Russell, Noam Chomsky, Arne Naess, Ingemar Hedenius, Ayn Rand, Otis Eugene “Gene” Ray, Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Laje, Slavoj Žižek, Jordan Peterson, and Giorgio Agamben. Beyond detailed case studies, the book lays the groundwork for new research agendas in the sociology of intellectuals. This book will be essential reading for scholars of cultural sociology.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pérez-Jara, Javier

Rudas, Nicolás

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction. Who are the Dramatic Intellectuals and What do They do? A Cultural-Sociological Analysis (Javier Pérez-Jara and Nicolás Rudas).- PART 1 - The Rise and Fall of Intellectuals.- Dramatic Intellectuals (Jeffrey Alexander).- The Filmmaker as Public Intellectual: Pedro Almodóvar and the Post-Franco Cultural Explosion in Spain (Ron Eyerman).- Stop the performance! Cancel Culture in the Contemporary Academy (Zeina Al Azmeh and Patrick Baert).- PART 2 - Intellectuals as Plot Writers: Narrating the World’s Crisis.- Satire, Conspiracy, Dystopia: Agustín Laje’s Genre Work for the Latin American Reaction (Nicolás Rudas).- Lord Bertrand Russell, Prophet of the Industrial Judgement Day (Javier Pérez-Jara).- Noam Chomsky and the Doomsday Clock (Íñigo Ongay).- PART 3 - Mapping the World Into Binaries.- Carl Jung and the Search for the Sacred in the Realm of the Unconscious (Irene Martínez-Sahuquillo).- Arne Naess and Ingemar Hedenius as Dramatic Intellectuals (Henrik Lundberg).- From Homo Sapiens to Homo Deus: Yuval Noah Harari as Oracular Philosopher (Duzan Avila).- PART 4 - Hitting the Stage: Intellectuals Talk to the Audiences.- Slavoj Žižek and Jordan Peterson as Celebrity-Icons (Eliran Bar-El).- How to Connect with Unexpected Audiences: Giorgio Agamben and the Covid-19 Pandemic (Federico Brandmayr).

Über Autor(innen)

Javier Pérez-Jara is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and East Asian Studies at the University of Seville, Spain, and a Faculty Fellow at Yale University’s Center for Cultural Sociology, USA. His research spans cultural sociology and philosophy, focusing on the social construction of utopian and apocalyptic narratives, contemporary materialism, and the nature versus nurture debate.   Nicolás Rudas is a sociologist and Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Yale University, USA. He is a Junior Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale. Nicolás’s research interests encompass the intersections of culture, radicalism, and democracy.