The Conference on "Intelligentsia and/or Intellectuals : the Forthcoming Reality of the XXI Century" (the 3rd International Conference on the Problem "Intellectuals and Society") will be held at the Moscow State University from 28 to 30 of September, 1999.
The Conference is organized by the Interregional Centre for Advanced Studies in cooperation with the Moscow State University, the Historical Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, editorial board of the journal <Problems of History>.
The aim of the Conference is to bring together researches working in various fields for the inter-disciplinary discussion on the past, present and future of intelligentsia. The Conference is organized within the inter-branch research project on <Intellectuals - Science - Society> that is supported by the ICAS. This research project has started with the First International Conference on the Problem <Intellectuals and Society> (subtitle of that conference was <Intellectuals in Non- Stable Society: Conformism or Leadership?>) that was held at the Moscow State University in September, 1995. The next conference of this series on <Intellectuals and Power> was held in September, 1997. The Russian scientists and public figures and scientists from Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, South Africa and the USA participated in these conferences.
It is panned that the Conference of the year 1999 will examine the following themes:
1. Theory of intelligentsia and the problems of intellectual labor. Intelligentsia - what is this? The Russian roots of intelligentsia and its universal significance. Intelligentsia and spiritual world. The historical evolution of intelligentsia, the genealogy of intelligentsia in the XIX and the beginning of the XX century. Intelligentsia in a non-stable society. Intelligentsia and power. Intelligentsia in Russia after 1917. Intelligentsia in external and internal emigration. Perestroika and intellectual elite. Intelligentsia and the class of <new intellectuals>. Contemporary intellectual labor in Russia and the West: common traits and difference.
2. Psychological and sociological portrait of intelligentsia. The typology and taxonomy of the Russian intelligentsia. The intelligentsia individual, intelligentsia behavioural strategies, false intelligentsia appearance. The humanities and engineering/scientific intelligentsia. The <lyrical> and <physics> types of intelligentsia. Intelligentsia in big capital cities and in the province. Moral orientations of intelligentsia.
3. The humanistic values and economy. The economic policies of the state towards the intellectuals. Can the material degradation and dedication to lofty objectives go together? <Homo economicus> - what is this? The intellectuals and moral culture of the contemporary business. The traditional moral values and the success ethic. Can a creative inspiration be a market product? Intellectual <products>, markets, and commerce. The moral dimensions of advertising, marketing and PR. Business and philanthropy.
4. Intelligentsia in the labyrinth of the cultural evolution in the XX century. High culture, mass culture, pop-culture, elite culture, folklore culture. In the laboratory of creativity: sociology of culture in the XX century. Makers of literature cinema, theater, music, visual and other arts. The experiments in arts and its social meaning. People in arts: are they prophets or producers of mass consumption.
5. A university as citadel of knowledge or the marketplace of professions? Ways and means of the commercialization of the university education. The manifest and latent privatization of the university education. Does the contemporary society need a high quality education? Between the fundamental orientation and competitiveness of high education. Who manage and who own a contemporary university. The <Golden Triangle> - the administration, teaching faculty, and students. The new social role and mutual expectations of teachers and students. A university in the XXI century.
6. The moral and ethical responsibility of intelligentsia for the advanced studies in science and humanities applications . Responsibility of a scientist for undesirable consequences of scientific progress and introduction of new technologies The problem of protection of nature and respect for our environment (atomic power, destruction of the ozone layer, genetically modified food, cloning etc.). The role of intelligentsia in choosing the proper economical and social models provided the stable development of the society. Responsibility of intelligentsia for adequate vision of the future of the human civilization.
7. Intelligentsia and the World. A citizen of the world or a herald of his/her local homeland? How to work for your homeland and serve the whole humanity. The global paradigms of the present age. What does the modernization and globalization bring us? The trends of the forthcoming century. The leading mission of intelligentsia in times of instability and decadence. Intelligentsia of the World, unite!
Participants of the Conference, government and political officials, and intellectuals from business and industry are invited to take part in the Round Table presentations and discussions that will be held during the conference.
During the Conference it is also planned to hold the meeting of the ICAS Coordinational Council on the project "Intellectuals - Science - Society".
For more information, please contact Conference Organizer:
Prof. Alexander I.Studenikin at e-mail: studenik@srdlan.npi.msu.su
Address for mails:
Department of Theoretical Physics
Moscow State University
119899 Moscow, Russia
phone: (007-095) 939-50-47
fax: (007-095) 932-88-20
e-mail: studenik@srdlan.npi.msu.su (Alexander Studenikin),
ane@srdlan.npi.msu.su (Andrey Egorov - Secretary of the Conference)
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