Date of Publication: 2008-03-01

As public intellectuals academics formulate specialized knowledge to become understandable and relevant for people outside of the specialty. There are two main forms of such intellectual activity: dissemination and debating. Scientific knowledge is a cultural value in its own right and also of importance in public discourse. Due to the complexity of the challenges facing modern societies the intellectual role of individual academics and scholarly institutions is increasingly important with mass education and new media techniques expanding the public sphere. It has become more important that specialists popularize also for specialists in other fields. Challenges such as climate change or social integration requires knowledgeable citizens and broad public discourses integrating specialized knowledge from several disciplines.

Contemporary challenges in Western Europe, Scandinavia and the US are discussed. The historical perspectives are followed back to early Modernity. The cases include contributions on Holberg, the Myrdals and Boas. There are contributions on the recent transformations “East of the Elbe” and the challenges facing scholars in Turkey and India. The main focus of the book is on social scientists but the issues discussed are of general interest for all kinds of academics and for people interested in the cultural and political relevance of science.

Sven Eliaeson (born 1948). Fil. Dr (Swedish Ph D) in Political science in Uppsala 1982, docent in political science at Stockholm University 1996, professor in sociology at Centre for Social Studies in Warsaw from 2001. The classics in social science, in particular Max Weber, is scholarly main thrust and ”European affairs” (including Nordic security policy and European enlargement) Nebenfach. Numerous sojourns at German and American universities.

Ragnvald Kalleberg is a professor of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo. He has done research, taught and disseminated knowledge and insight mainly in three areas: 1) sociology of science, with a focus on history of science, academics as public intellectuals, research ethics and national research policies), 2) sociology of organizations, with a focus on universities as knowledge organizations, workplace democracy, leadership, and work environment; and 3) general social theory (philosophy of social science and theory of modernity). He has chaired the Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social and Cultural Sciences (NESH). He has helped to develop national guidelines for the encouragement of academics as public intellectuals.

“This exciting collection of essays explores the important issue of academics as public intellectuals and the conditions in which they have proved influential. It has a broad historical sweep, covers figures from contrasting points in the political spectrum, includes different fields of political, intellectual, and moral leadership, and examines international as well as national scales of intervention. In addition to a rich set of case studies, the contributors offer insightful general reflections on the changing nature of universities, of the public sphere, and of the tasks of academics who have acquired the status of public intellectuals.”

Robert Jessop, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University

The national “publics” to which “public intellectuals” speak vary enormously. This collection of fascinating cases introduces an important comparative dimension to the study of public intellectuals, showing familiar and important figures in new light, and brings a broader and more sophisticated conceptualization of the problem of public social science.

Stephen Turner

University of South Florida

Stephen P Turner is distinguished reserach professor in philosophy at University of South Florida in Tampa (he used to be in sociology).

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