One can note, in the case of the United States, the absence to a considerable degree of traditional intellectuals, and consequently a different equilibrium among the intellectuals in general. […] The lack of a vast sedimentation of traditional intellectuals such as one finds in countries of ancient civilisation explains, at least in part, both the existence of only two major political parties, […] and at the opposite extreme the enormous proliferation of religious sects.
Antonio Gramsci’s observation of the origin and state of intellectuals in the US. : The first chapter of his Prison Notes on intellectuals already shows his useful observations and theories. The part on “negro intellectuals” and his constant sole use of male forms (men of letters, etc.) shows that he was – despite all the revolutionary, progressive thought – a child of his racist, sexist times.
(Antonio Gramsci Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International (2010) p. 20)
Thoughts?