Description
Book SynopsisIntellectuals occupy a paradoxical position in contemporary American culture. This title discusses how critics have conceived of the intellectual's role in a pluralised society, weighing intellectual authority against public democracy, universal against particularistic standards, and criticism against the respect of popular movements.
Trade Review“
Anxious Intellects introduces fresh material and a generally new tone into the discussion of the quarrels now familiarly known as the culture wars. Readers will welcome its efforts to disabuse parties on both sides of some of their more comforting fantasies about intellectual labor and to move the debate about intellectuals and politics onto more fruitful terrain.”—Ellen Rooney, Brown University
“
Anxious Intellects is a state-of-the-art assessment of the function of intellectuals at the turn of the century. Michael’s astute and generous commentary on recent developments in this long tradition is especially relevant, coming at a time when human intelligence is becoming the staple industrial unit of the new economy.”—Andrew Ross, New York University
“Seeking ‘an embattled middle ground,’ Michael offers sustained and always astute commentary on the mixed results of the intellectual’s status in the United States today.”—Chris Newfield, University of California, Santa Barbara
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Fundamental Confusion
Part One: Cultural Authority, Enlightenment Traditions, and Professional Anxiety
1. Publicity: Black Intellectuals as Inorganic Rerpresentatives
2. Pedagogy: Enlightened Instruction as Oppressive Discipline
3. Community: Pragmatism as a Profession of Anxiety
4. Culture: Western Traditions and Intellectual Treason
Part Two: Projected Identities, Universal Illusions, and Democratic Discourse
5. The Critic: Cultural Studies and Adorno’s Ghost
6. The Scientist: Disembodied Intellect and Popular Utopias
7. The Professional: Science Wars and Interdisciplinary Studies
Conclusion: Tattered Maps
Notes
Bibliography
Index
