ABSTRACT
Parsons, Coser, Nettl and others of this generation, seem unable to avoid interjecting their own values and wishes into their analyses. (Merton, though often accused of covertly introducing values, has generally avoided this.) This is not the place to review sociological theories of intellectuals in detail. But the crux of the debate seems to lie in proclamations about the proper role of intellectuals-the subject, as we have seen, of much concern among intellectuals themselves. Contact with the intellectuals they study and the fact that the observers are also intellectuals seems to make it impossible for them not to enter into the debates rampant in the intellectual world. The prescriptive tone of the discussion, a tone we have not been able to avoid either, is of course more prevalent in works on intellectuals by non-social scientists who feel a moral stance is rightfully theirs.
