Collectives of intellectuals: Their cohesiveness, accountability, and who can speak on their behalf

Abstract

As of late, the sociology of intellectuals has made important inroads into its object of study. Much of this has been achieved by problematising the modes of engagement intellectuals undertake and multiplying the types of actor that can be considered to have intellectual authority, going beyond the traditional mould of the ‘authoritative’ public intellectual. However, relatively few have theorised how intellectuals associate themselves in groups: how collectives, whether in the form of institutions or not, negotiate their public interventions and position themselves as a group in the public debate. This article delves into this issue, with an emphasis on how ‘intellectual collectives’ reach a common identity and decide who can intervene ‘on their behalf’ – what we call prosopopoeia. Informed by positioning theory, and based on two variables (presence of a single organisational basis and purported intellectual cohesiveness), this article contributes to current debates on the sociology of intellectuals by analysing how collectives of intellectuals intervene in the public debate, reach some form of coordination with their peers, police the boundaries of their collective identity, and, in the process, attain a common position across audiences.

El Saber Experto en el Debate sobre la Nueva Constitución en Chile: Análisis Reticular de la Presencia de los Think Tanks en los Medios de Comunicación

“…Así, los expertos participan como 'intelectuales especialistas' que producen e instalan marcos de referencia ideológicos afines a sus intereses (Sapiro, 2018). Ello se debe a que la expertise en sí se ha consolidado como "un tipo de actividad de intervención sobre lo social" (Morresi & Vommaro, 2011: 14), en el que los TT actúan como vehículos y catalizadores de ideas y personas en contextos de alta hibridación mediática en cambiantes redes de 'comunidades políticas', 'coaliciones de abogacía', 'coaliciones discursivas' (Almiron, 2017), 'comunidades epistémicas' (Stone, 2004), o 'colectivos de intelectuales' (Baert & González Hernando, 2020).…”