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The Heart of the Problem

South African Intellectual Workers, Globalization and Social Change

University of Sydney

The familiar sociology of intellectuals has been constructed in the global metropole, and it is debatable how relevant its concepts are to the periphery. A life-history study was conducted with diverse intellectual workers in South Africa. A range of intellectual identities is apparent. The specific history of the Apartheid era, the struggle against Apartheid, and the advent of neo-liberalism have all shaped intellectual workers' cultural formation and created major differences in trajectories. Periphery/metropole relations profoundly structure cultural practices and consciousness, but these relations are not static. Distinctive patterns of intellectual work appear. The legacy of democratic struggle gives prominence to ‘crossover’ forms of intellectual work, fuels resistance to neo-liberal globalization, and gives a distinctive form to the problem of reproducing the intellectual workforce and project. The research thus emphasizes the cultural productiveness of the global ‘periphery’ and the need for forms of social theory based here.

Key Words: apartheid • globalization • intellectuals • labour process • periphery

Sociology, Vol. 41, No. 1, 11-28 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038507072281


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