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Reifications of the intellectual: representations, organization and agency in revolutionary China
Author(s) -
U Eddy
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1111/1468-4446.12036
Subject(s) - communism , politics , agency (philosophy) , identity (music) , sociology , power (physics) , subjectivity , china , political subjectivity , social movement , population , gender studies , political science , political economy , social science , law , aesthetics , epistemology , philosophy , physics , demography , quantum mechanics
How did ‘intellectuals’ evolve from a class of subjects in M arxian thoughts to highly visible populations under communism? Such ‘reifications of the intellectual’ have deeply affected subjectivity, conflict and organization, but received little attention in the political sociology of communism. This essay draws on research on classifications and social boundaries to address the objective and subjective foundations of the reifications and their impact on communist rule. The intellectual is viewed as an identification formed and performed around multiple social axes (most notably family background, educational achievement, occupational history, institutional affiliation and revolutionary rank) that reflected broader patterns of communist political domination. I use the C hinese C ommunist movement to demonstrate that (1) interaction of political contests, ruling strategies and institutional developments turned a diversity of persons into ‘intellectuals’ who were allegedly imbued with reprehensible interests and habits linked to privileged economic classes; (2) constant competitions for power and organizational changes led to classificatory ambiguities and, in turn, allowed individuals some control over their identifications; and (3) the developments profoundly influenced identity, state and class formation. Focusing on the dynamics that produced a highly visible but fluid population of ‘intellectuals’ opens new pathways for comparative research on communism.