General Intellects: Twenty-One Thinkers for the 21st Century

Presents a collection of essays on the theories of various twenty-first century philosophers, political analysts, cultural critics, and sociologists from the United States and Europe.
While this book mourns the loss of public intellectuals in our time, it points to the work of general intellects, defined here as academics who are employed by universities but who try through their work to address more general problems of society. The book profiles the work of 21 contemporary thinkers; most are academics from various disciplines. Those profiled include Paolo Virno, Angela McRobbie, Jodi Dean, Wendy Chun, Donna Haraway, and Timothy Morton. The author notes that even though they are intellectual workers, whose work is commodified and sold, they write against the system of commodification of knowledge. Annotation ©2017 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
A guide to the thinkers and the ideas that will shape the futureWhat happened to the public intellectuals that used to challenge and inform us? Who is the Sartre or De Beauvoir of the internet age? General Intellects argues that we no longer have such singular figures, but we do have general intellects whose writing could, if read together, explain our times. Covering topics such as culture, politics, work, technology, and the Anthropocene, each chapter is a concise account of an individual thinker, providing useful context and connections to the work of the others. McKenzie Wark’s distinctive readings are appreciations, but are also critical of how neoliberal universities militate against cooperative intellectual work to understand and change the world. The thinkers included are Amy Wendling, Kojin Karatani, Paolo Virno, Yann Moulier Boutang, Maurizio Lazzarato, Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Angela McRobbie, Paul Gilroy, Slavoj Žižek, Jodi Dean, Chantal Mouffe, Wendy Brown, Judith Butler, Azumo Hiroki, Paul B. Préciado, Wendy Chun, Timothy Morton, Quentin Meillassoux, Isabelle Stengers, and Donna Haraway.