ABSTRACT
The current variety of attempts to construct ideologies of the intelligentsia lends the sociology of the intelligentsia an importance that one would not otherwise so readily grant to it. Only the sociology of the intelligentsia can give an accounting of the causes of such heated discussion. It is so difficult for sociology to do justice to this multi-faceted 'intelligentsia'; the few established facts regarding the phenomenon should not be ignored. In Mannheim's theory, the idea is untenable that the intelligentsia is a social entity unified by their cultivation. Marxism has to make use of the scientific conclusions of Mannheim's sociology, as it justifies the criticism of his apolitical ideology. The ability of intellectuals to choose among ideologies is indeed the central problem of sociology of the intelligentsia. It is the evidence of the contemporary relevance of sociology of the intelligentsia that it stimulates contemplation of social and ideological relations that affect the whole of society.
