Quote:
Originally Posted by King of Kensington
It's not that common, but not uncommon, to speak of the "Upper West Side intelligentsia" or "Hampstead intelligentsia."
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Right, but they might be wrong.
Here;
"To understand the sources of Russian communism and make clear to oneself the haracter of the Russian revolution, one must understand that singular phenomenon which in Russia is called 'intelligentsia'. Western people would make a mistake if they identified the Russian intelligentsia with those who in the West are known as "intellectuals" 'Intellectuals' are people of intellectual work and creativeness, mainly learned people, writers, artists, professors, teachers and so on. The Russian intelligentsia is an entirely different group; and to it may belong people occupied in no intellectual work, and generally speaking not particularly intellectual. Many Russian scholars and writers
certainly could not be reckoned as belonging to the intelligentsia in the strict sense of the
word. The intelligentsia reminds one more of a monastic order or sect, with its own very
intolerant ethics, its own obligatory outlook on life, with its own manners and customs
and even its own particular physical appearance, by which it is always possible to
recognize a member of the intelligentsia and to distinguish him from other social groups.
Our intelligentsia were a group formed out of various social classes and held together by
ideas, not by sharing a common profession or economic status. They were derived to
begin with mainly from the more cultured section of the nobility, later from the sons of
the clergy, small government officials, the lower middle class, and, after the liberation,
from the peasants. That then is the intelligentsia; its members were of different social classes and held together by ideas, not by sharing a common profession or economic status."
http://www.jesus-for-all.com/fikr/pdf_3189.pdf
Even if I disagree with Berdyaev somewhat on this matter ( he is a Russian philosopher,) you still can see that definition "intelligentsia" is closely related to class-divided society, and "intelligentsia" is not a production of certain level of wealth, where "intellectuals" are, as a rule.