"Nobel" economists as public intellectuals: the circulation of symbolic capital

Frédéric Lebaron (1)

1 CURAPP-ESS - Centre universitaire de recherches sur l'action publique et le politique. Epistémologie et Sciences sociales

The "Prize in Economic Science in Memory of Alfred Nobel" can be analysed as a process of social construction of public intellectuals in a precise sense, similar to the one which emerged in France during the "Affaire Dreyfus": intellectual producers (scientific, literary, artistic) are given the opportunity to demonstrate their sphere of activity and legitimacy in order to take positions on various moral or political problems. This makes them more similar to Foucault's specific intellectual than to Sartre's "total intellectual". "Nobel economists" are given a particular social authority on the basis of their scientific performance and expertise. The alchemy of the process of construction and conversion of symbolic capital which occurs for Nobel economists rests on the social construction of a specific symbolic capital, associated to an academic field : economics.

Mots clés: economics; economists; symbolic capital; Nobel prize

Domaines: Sociologie

Frédéric Lebaron. "Nobel" economists as public intellectuals: the circulation of symbolic capital. International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, 2006, 43 (1), pp.88-101. ⟨hal-00140250⟩