- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Intellectuals and Society
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.50
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Intellectuals & Society for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.50, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
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
--The Guardian, 24th April 2010
Product Description
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.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For years I've often found myself at odds with the ideas espoused by journalists, commentators and public figures. These ideas are held to be the only respectable ones to hold among right-minded people, and yet they seemed to fly in the face of reason and experience; they appeared to be motivated more by a desire to appear good than to do good.
Many books I've read have touched on these ideas and pointed out their stupidity, but few have really burrowed inside the mind of those who propose them. Thomas Sowell's brilliant book does precisely that, and much more besides. He analyses the reasoning (or lack of) behind the views of liberal intellectuals, and explains their motivations and aims. More importantly, he exposes the liberal-left worldview as a pretext for creating in world in which they play a more influential role, and which allows them to showcase their moral, intellectual and emotional superiority.
Sowell's arguments, backed by detailed evidence and historical references, are so clear and convincing that all but the most blinkered leftist could fail to read it without reflecting on the ingenuous, self-serving and destructive nature of his beliefs.
Sadly, as Sowell points out, the liberal intelligentsia tend to dispense with facts and opinions that don't endorse their own version of how the world works, so they are unlikely to risk reading this book. If they do, it will be with a determination to ignore or refute everything Sowell has to say. However, for anyone with an interest in the mindset of those who presume to tell us how to live, this is essential reading.
Many books I've read have touched on these ideas and pointed out their stupidity, but few have really burrowed inside the mind of those who propose them. Thomas Sowell's brilliant book does precisely that, and much more besides. He analyses the reasoning (or lack of) behind the views of liberal intellectuals, and explains their motivations and aims. More importantly, he exposes the liberal-left worldview as a pretext for creating in world in which they play a more influential role, and which allows them to showcase their moral, intellectual and emotional superiority.
Sowell's arguments, backed by detailed evidence and historical references, are so clear and convincing that all but the most blinkered leftist could fail to read it without reflecting on the ingenuous, self-serving and destructive nature of his beliefs.
Sadly, as Sowell points out, the liberal intelligentsia tend to dispense with facts and opinions that don't endorse their own version of how the world works, so they are unlikely to risk reading this book. If they do, it will be with a determination to ignore or refute everything Sowell has to say. However, for anyone with an interest in the mindset of those who presume to tell us how to live, this is essential reading.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In "Intellectuals and Society", Sowell analyzes the nature of intellectuals (a term clearly defined in the introduction of the book, Sowell generally uses the term to refer to people whose trade is the generation of ideas), their motivations and their influence on society. Sowell is very critical of the role of this particular class of people, and argues for their detrimental influence in a variety of fields, notably economics, the structure of society and war.
The intellectuals whom Sowell refers to are generally left-wing thinkers and politicians, and Sowell makes little attempt to hide his right-wing opinions, particularly noticeable in the chapter on economics, where he appears to show a level of faith in the ability of economic markets to regulate themselves that is somewhat surprising given that this book was in fact published after the onset of the current financial crisis.
Nonetheless, despite the fact that some, including myself, may find Sowells implicit political opinions somewhat rigid, his arguments for the detrimental effects of intellectuals are throughout the vast majority of the book very sound. He particularly points out that these intellectuals often show surprisingly bad track records in terms of empirical results, and that they fail to adjust their opinions accordingly. Amongst the examples given are pacifism and appeasement politics, market regulation, military deterrence, crime reduction et al. Sowell convincingly demonstrates, both by reference to particular individuals and by reference to general political climate, that a considerable group of otherwise renowned intellectuals have espoused opinions which turned out to yield blatantly disastrous results, and importantly, that the intellectual establishment have failed to properly reflect on these failures of their own thinking.
Apart from considering the actual track record of intellectuals, Sowell also theorizes about the nature of intellectuals, particularly about the institutions which makes it possible for intellectuals to disregard empirical evidence against their ideas. These discussions create a framework for understanding the examples and particular discussions given throughout the book, and constitute a major part of the original thinking set forth by Sowell in the book.
The book is also very well-written, concise and readable. I found it one of the most thought-provoking works I have read in several years. I would furthermore point out that the rather obvious political bias of Sowell, which one may or may not agree with, in no way should detract from the fact that the ideas stated in the book are highly original, well researched and extremely interesting. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in critical thinking about modern society and its political climate.
The intellectuals whom Sowell refers to are generally left-wing thinkers and politicians, and Sowell makes little attempt to hide his right-wing opinions, particularly noticeable in the chapter on economics, where he appears to show a level of faith in the ability of economic markets to regulate themselves that is somewhat surprising given that this book was in fact published after the onset of the current financial crisis.
Nonetheless, despite the fact that some, including myself, may find Sowells implicit political opinions somewhat rigid, his arguments for the detrimental effects of intellectuals are throughout the vast majority of the book very sound. He particularly points out that these intellectuals often show surprisingly bad track records in terms of empirical results, and that they fail to adjust their opinions accordingly. Amongst the examples given are pacifism and appeasement politics, market regulation, military deterrence, crime reduction et al. Sowell convincingly demonstrates, both by reference to particular individuals and by reference to general political climate, that a considerable group of otherwise renowned intellectuals have espoused opinions which turned out to yield blatantly disastrous results, and importantly, that the intellectual establishment have failed to properly reflect on these failures of their own thinking.
Apart from considering the actual track record of intellectuals, Sowell also theorizes about the nature of intellectuals, particularly about the institutions which makes it possible for intellectuals to disregard empirical evidence against their ideas. These discussions create a framework for understanding the examples and particular discussions given throughout the book, and constitute a major part of the original thinking set forth by Sowell in the book.
The book is also very well-written, concise and readable. I found it one of the most thought-provoking works I have read in several years. I would furthermore point out that the rather obvious political bias of Sowell, which one may or may not agree with, in no way should detract from the fact that the ideas stated in the book are highly original, well researched and extremely interesting. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in critical thinking about modern society and its political climate.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For years now I have felt Like I was swimming against the tide of the intelligentsia or the intellectual elite, a club which seemed to me an invite only closed doors policy club where only the creme of the intellectual superiority wre allowed access; this book has shown me to be correct.
Exposing intellectuals both public and non for the hypocritical, wrong headed, fools that not only do not seek emoiric evidence but seem to enjoy going against the evidence, it seems that they gain more popularity the more they are wrong in the public eye.
These intellectuals can usually be found in the halls of academia, although admittedly not always, where they have a captive, rather than captivated, body of students in the lecture halls. They sneak out of their PhD's and attack various topics and ideas of which they have little to no knowledge. Some pass commentary on the state of the economy and the poor situation, having never picked up an economic textbook nor attended one class. Others such as Dawkins, no doubt brilliant in his field of Biology has never the less decided to write books on religion, documentaries on religion, of which he has very little knowledge and his research is extremely tardy when held against that of religious scholars!
I loved this book, not because it took intellectuals and shook them by the throat, but rather it showed me these intellectuals really aren't all that intellectual once we strip away the verbiage. It also showed me I can follow intellectual pursuits, my way, the right way, with solid research, empiric evidence to support my claims and to follow intellectualism as apassion for the truth, not a short cut to fame.
I would recommend this to anyone, except maybe an intellectual, I fear their inflated ego's could not bear the intellectual drubbing it will suffer!
Exposing intellectuals both public and non for the hypocritical, wrong headed, fools that not only do not seek emoiric evidence but seem to enjoy going against the evidence, it seems that they gain more popularity the more they are wrong in the public eye.
These intellectuals can usually be found in the halls of academia, although admittedly not always, where they have a captive, rather than captivated, body of students in the lecture halls. They sneak out of their PhD's and attack various topics and ideas of which they have little to no knowledge. Some pass commentary on the state of the economy and the poor situation, having never picked up an economic textbook nor attended one class. Others such as Dawkins, no doubt brilliant in his field of Biology has never the less decided to write books on religion, documentaries on religion, of which he has very little knowledge and his research is extremely tardy when held against that of religious scholars!
I loved this book, not because it took intellectuals and shook them by the throat, but rather it showed me these intellectuals really aren't all that intellectual once we strip away the verbiage. It also showed me I can follow intellectual pursuits, my way, the right way, with solid research, empiric evidence to support my claims and to follow intellectualism as apassion for the truth, not a short cut to fame.
I would recommend this to anyone, except maybe an intellectual, I fear their inflated ego's could not bear the intellectual drubbing it will suffer!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Glorification of Stupidity
On the very first page Mr Sowell reveals his agenda:
"Karl Marx's Capital was a classic example of an intellectually masterful elaboration of a fundamental... Read more
"Karl Marx's Capital was a classic example of an intellectually masterful elaboration of a fundamental... Read more
Published 12 months ago by G. J. Mcintyre
the epitome of a life's work
sowell is not 80 and this a perhaps going to be his last book. it contains little new research that cannot also be found in many of his other books and articles, and as such it is... Read more
Published 21 months ago by asp
Those Who Work with Ideas Should Check Out Their Ideas and Stick to...
"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'Look, He is there!' do not believe it. Read more
Published on 2 April 2010 by Donald Mitchell
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
