СОЦІОЛОГІЯ ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛІВ ТА ПІДХОДИ У ЇЇ ДОСЛІДЖЕННІ

The article has indicated the limits in the field of the sociology of intellectuals, philosophical analysis of this phenomenon was provided. It was shown a number of approaches to the study of the intellectual class in connection with its modifications in the twentieth century. Sociology of intellectuals, like its subject, has a very colorful history. It is true that when we are talking about the intellectuals the first thing that could come to our minds is the phenomena of French intellectuals, where the Dreyfus affair, which marked the emergence of new social group vested with the great influence in the society. Thenceforward, the term «intellectual» became of common, yet sometimes derogatory usage. The turning point of that times was the 4500-word article, published in the «L’Aurore» newspaper in January 1898 by Emile Zola and headlined «J’Accuse…!» – an open letter to the President Faure, defending unfairly convicted captain Alfred Dreyfus. In was the moment of great intellectual consolidation of philosophers, journalists, writers and other elite representatives in their struggle not just against the anti-Semitism, but struggle for justice, truth and rights for all the members of society that could not be discarded by the tradition and authority of the government any more. Later on the brilliant thoughts on intellectuals and their role were spoken by famous XX century French philosophers: Jean Paul Sartre, Michelle Foucault, Raymond Aron, Pierre Bourdieu and lots of others. For example, Sartre, stated in his article for the defense of the intellectuals, that that being specialists in some fields, they are always invading the fields out of their competence, bearing the universal system of values. The term is also equally well used in the Western and Eastern worlds, sometimes emerging from the facing the affairs that are analogous to the Dreyfus case. The turning point for the field of the sociology of intellectuals was the book «The Treason of the Intellectuals» by Julien Benda. Author’s concerns were about his vision of the final decline of intellectuals as a class. However, despite the literary preferences and apocalyptic tone in his book, the main themes have been focused on the approach in sociology of intellectuals, considering them as a class. Intellectuals can develop common interests that put them apart from other groups in society, sometimes concentrating around those interests, and sometimes giving up any of its organization and being on the margins of the society. On other hand, Pierre Bourdieu believes that despite common interests, intellectuals are not always prone to collective action and only in certain moments of history they are exempt from political pessimism of pure culture and hypocritical involvement in politics, appear to protect its own interests, the best example of which is the Dreyfus affair. Therefore, we considered several approaches that have appeared in the twentieth century in the sociology of intellectuals, though they certainly do not exhaust the scope of such a controversial subject of philosophical investigation. It was shown on the paradigmatic significance of «The Treason of the Intellectuals» by J. Benda, as the first comprehensive philosophical reflection that became fundamental to sociology of intellectuals. The approaches that were described in the article should be borne in mind at least to avoid terminological controversy. In addition, intellectual communication takes place by means of media environment, the development of which has led to fundamental changes in our understanding of intellectuals and modern access to information undermines the credibility of the «classic» intellectuals as a class, but in any case, the request for them is not yet lost in the society, and therefore such research is still quite relevant