Search

This article moves beyond the conventional strictures of the sociology of intellectuals, which is preoccupied with intellectuals' texts, power struggles and institutional trajectories. Instead, I propose to focus on intellectuals' situated performances as a way into analysis of the dynamics of their relations and mutual influences. Drawing on theoretical resources from the Strong Program in cultural sociology, I argue that their performances have both social and cultural impact through disseminating ideas, facilitating the emergence of social ties and the production of new social selves in intellectuals' audiences. I demonstrate the importance of situated intellectual performances in the case of unofficial philosophy in socialist Czechoslovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]