Discuss the process of formation of intellectuals according to

Gramsci.
The essay , “The Formation of Intellectual” has been taken from Antonio Gramsci’s prison notebooks
which were written during his imprisonment years. It is a two part essay which deals with the
idea and the concept of the intellectuals and its formation. Every society is composed of
various groups which has specific role in the process of production in the society. This thesis
is simply that each class produces its own intellectuals. This term in its earlier usage describes
those of different occupations in the profession, sciences and arts who claim or are credited
with the right to speak over and above particular interests on matters of general
philosophical, ethical and aesthetic import. According to Gramsci, intellectuals are a broaden
group of social agents than the term would seem to include in its definition. His views
regarding the intellectuals is totally different from the conventional notion of intellectual
where a person is known for his theories and ideas about sciences, arts , philosophy, etc. If
we look at individual level , different people have different perspective about this term.

“ The intellectual is someone who meddles in what does not concern them”. – Jean Paul
Sartre

But when Gramsci describes about intellectuals , he makes certain distinctions in context of
historical change and that are organic intellectuals and traditional intellectuals. These
intellectuals , that Gramsci identifies as “organic” intellectuals are perpetually in conflict with
“ traditional” intellectuals of pre-existing social groups . Within the dialectical materialist
model, this perpetual conflict between organic and traditional intellectuals is the motor of
class struggles. The organic intellectuals are the one who comes into existence as a result of
the emergence of new social groups such as his example of an elite entrepreneur who acts as
an catalyst for economic development because he creates jobs and necessity.

The emerging social group appropriates the intellectuals that already existed, those who had
ties with the previous dominant group. The social group adopts the intellectuals that reflect
the socio- political – economic beliefs . “Traditional” intellectuals are only considered as
such ,due to their emergence within the historically traditional dominant class, the aristocracy.
For Gramsci the ecclesiastics are the traditional intellectuals associated with aristocracy who
enjoy monopoly over a number of important services. They call themselves as autonomous
and independent of the dominant social groups and who represent an historical continuity
despite of all the problems . Gramsci’s ideology regarding this subject is not referring solely to
the academics which is limited to a particular kind of people but went much further .

Gramsci says that, “ All men are intellectuals , one could therefore say : but not all men
have in the function of intellectual”. For Gramsci , all humans are intellectuals, in that they
perform a minimum of intellectual activity in addition to physical activity, but not all humans
have the function of intellectuals in society. This can be explained by giving an example that
everyone at some time fries a couple of egg or sews up a tear in a jacket, we do not
necessarily say that everyone is a cook or tailor. There is nothing like a term non –
intellectuals existed , for there is not a single activity from which every form of intellectual
participation can be excluded .

Schools are one of the main institutions that plays a significant role in producing and
organising intellectual activity. And Gramsci then goes on to establish a relation to the
production of intellectuals through academic institutions to the economic productive capacities
of a particular state. The more efficient the productive capacities, the more a particular state
will have to produce intellectuals. The number of specialised schools denotes the reach of a
certain type of intellectual activity, while the hierarchy of levels of schooling designates the
complexity of a particular civilisations.

Page 1 of 2
According to Gramsci , the intellectuals are the functionaries of the superstructure that is, they
act like a indirect mediator between the economic production at the base and the
superstructure which employs “ hegemony”.

--------- The end----------

Page 2 of 2