Organic Intellectual

One of two types of intellectuals as defined by Antonio Gramsci in his Prision Notebooks. Organic intellectuals are a particular strata of intellectual that are connected to the dominant social class and acts as both an organizer, of society and its diverse organisms, and as its thinking element, leading the ideas of their class. The organic intellectual is set apart from the traditional intellectual, those who are "men of letters" and believe themselves, falsely, to be independent of the dominant social group.

In order to break the ideological bond of hegemony that permeates all of society and works to support the status quo Gramsci theorized that what was needed was a counter-hegemony. In order to produce this counter-hegemony the working class would need its own organic intellectuals. These organic intellectuals would come from within the working class and stay within the working class working towards a counter-hegemony by actively engaging and leading in social relations. The role of the organic intellectual is a merging of theory and praxis.

url = http://www.metapedia.com/wiki/index.php?title=Antonio_Gramsci