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ment” within those societies. Development is a pragmatic and eco-
nomic issue, supported by the dominant elite and the consumers;
progress is an ideal – social and political – issue, supported by
groups whose goal is to reduce social, cultural and economic differ-
ences. The problem is that, in present society, those who support
progress experience the “progress idea” in their conscience, but, at
the same time, they experience the consumerist ideology, the “devel-
opment idea”, in their existence. Pasolini urged intellec tuals to
openly face this problem which is a true matter of conscience.20 In
other words Pasolini sets out the problem of the functionality of
democratic systems: as a matter of fact a society with fewer differ-
ences does not necessarily correspond to a more democratic society.
According to Pasolini, one of the main duties of intellectuals is to
be rigorous in doing a critical analysis of historical facts. This duty
the older intellectuals failed to accomplish during the 1968 protests,
when most of them firmly believed in the advent of a revo lution.
This belief was considered by Pasolini to be one of the most serious
mistakes in twentieth century critical thinking. These intellectuals
revealed themselves as unable to critically read histori cal facts. In
Pasolini’s view, the reasons behind the protest did not have objective
meaning. In fact, young people and workers protested also for the
masses, but for the masses the real historical novelty was not the
potential Marxist revolution, it was the new reality in which they
were already living: “consumerism, well-being, and the hedonistic
ideology of power”.21 This misunderstanding of historical facts was
even more serious because in the meantime the traditional forms of
power (clergy, industrial middle class, school and family) were under-
going deep transformation and the traditional society was showing a
crisis of leadership. It included both the authoritarian and reac-
tionary kind of leadership as well as the institutions dealing with
knowledge and education such as school and family. In such a com-
plex society as Western society, this crisis of traditional authority led
not to new forms of debate, but to a proliferation of a completely dif-
ferent kind of leadership. These leaders are experts, specialists, such
INTELLECTUALS BETWEEN DISSOCIATION AND DISSENTING
260
20 Pier Paolo Pasolini, Scritti corsari (see the brief essay entitled “Sviluppo e Progresso” – Develop -
ment and Progress, pp. 175–178).
21 Ibid, p. 27.
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