Intellectuals & Society - Hardcover

Sowell, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 046501948X ISBN 13: 9780465019489

Publisher: Basic, 2010

Synopsis

This is a clear-eyed critique about (but not for) intellectuals that explores their impact on public opinion, policy and society at large. This is a study of how intellectuals as a class affect modern societies by shaping the climate of opinion in which official policies develop, on issues ranging from economics to law to war and peace. The thesis of Intellectuals and Society is that the influence of intellectuals is not only greater than in previous eras, but also takes a very different form from that envisioned by those like Machiavelli and others who have wanted to directly influence rulers. It has not been by shaping the opinions or directing the actions of the holders of power that modern intellectuals have most influenced the course of events, but by shaping public opinion in ways that affect the actions of power holders in democratic societies, whether or not those power holders accept the general vision or the particular policies favoured by intellectuals. Even government leaders with disdain or contempt for intellectuals have had to bend to the climate of opinion shaped by those intellectuals. "Intellectuals and Society" not only examines the track record of intellectuals in the things they have advocated but also analyzes the incentives and constraints under which their views and visions have emerged. One of the most surprising aspects of this study is how often intellectuals have been proved not only wrong but grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of society - and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters entailed by those views.

About this title

Review:

"Sowell is wryly persuasive in his discussion of the structural incentives that encourage ("intellectuals") to say `sweeping, reckless or even foolish things"... (he) intelligently demonstrates the way inferences can be skewed by varying interpretations of statistics."

--The Guardian, 24th April 2010

About the Author:

Thomas Sowell has taught economics at Cornell, UCLA, Amherst and other academic institutions, and his Basic Economics has been translated into six languages. He is currently a scholar in residence at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has published in both academic journals and popular media including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes magazine and Fortune, and writes a syndicated column that appears in newspapers across America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 046501948X
• ISBN 13: 9780465019489
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416