The Intellectuals and Socialism

Other articles Blackwell Publishing Ltd HAYEK, ‘THE INTELLECTUALS AND SOCIALISM’, AND WEIGHTED SCALE-FREE NETWORKS

In 1949, Hayek attributed the dominant position of planning in the West to the role of intellectuals, by which he meant ‘professional second-hand dealers in ideas’ such as journalists and commentators. Later in the twentieth century, we saw a similar phenomenon: particular social ideas, although frequently falsified empirically, have come to dominate through the efforts of intellectuals. This p...

Diaspora , Intellectuals , and the State

NO AREA OF PUBLIC CONSCIENCE ILLUST"TES THE ANXIOUS MEETING of state policy and cultural mythology more than illegal immigration. As once-con#dent national polities in Europe and the United States su$er a series of economic shocks, a backlash has gathered momentum, targeting the imported labor that in many ways symbolizes the so% core of the old regimes’ economic foundations. A variety of extre...

Intellectuals and the Rise of Mass Politics

Intellectuals and New Technologies

Critical intellectuals were traditionally those who utilized their skills of speaking and writing to denounce injustices and abuses of power, and to fight for truth, justice, progress, and other positive values. In the words of Jean-Paul Sartre (1974: 285), "the duty of the intellectual is to denounce injustice wherever it occurs." The modern critical intellectual's field of action was what Hab...

Socialism and the Blockchain

Bitcoin (BTC) is often cited as Libertarian. However, the technology underpinning Bitcoin, blockchain, has properties that make it ideally suited to Socialist paradigms. Current literature supports the Libertarian viewpoint by focusing on the ability of Bitcoin to bypass central authority and provide anonymity; rarely is there an examination of blockchain technology’s capacity for decentralised...