As a consequence of moralism and lack of a coherent analytical framework, sociology of the intellectual has been in the marginal area of tradition sociology. At present, the ontological premise of the intellectual has come under question, but issues like the intellectual being viewed as a boundarymaking process and their class characteristics have attracted some attention. With respect to intellectuals’ nature as a class, there exist three broad analytical traditions: intellectuals as classinthemselves, intellectuals as classless, and intellectuals as classbound. Civility and subversion are the two basic views of the social roles played by the intellectual. Conclusions from traditional research on intellectuals’ ideologies can be classified into economic determinism, social determinism, field theory, and reference group theory. In the last decade, the new sociology of ideas has emerged and it challenges the old paradigm. In response, we need to treat intellectuals’ political orientation as an “independent variable” rather than a “dependent variable” in order to start a reform in studying intellectuals that is directed toward analytical sociology. In this regard, concepts such as the intellectual field, habitus, selfconcept, subcultural identity, and intellectual trajectory can help us formulate a new theoretical framework of political epistemology.
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