Neo-Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci took a keen interest in the role of intellectuals in society. He said in particular that all men are intellectuals, but that not all have the social function of intellectuals. He put forward the idea that modern intellectuals were not content to produce discourse, but were involved in the organization of social practices and take part in the formation of cultural hegemony. They would produce common sense, that is to say, what goes without saying. Thus the intellectuals engaged alongside the working class would play a major role in producing evidence that would destroy the common sense produced, according to him, by the bourgeoisie.
He further distinguished between a “traditional intelligentsia” which (wrongly) thinks of itself as a distinct class of society, and the groups of intellectuals that each class generates “organically”. These organic intellectuals do not simply describe social life according to scientific rules, but rather express the experiences and feelings that the masses could not express on their own. The organic intellectual would understand by theory but also feel by experience the life of the people.
The need to create a culture specific to workers is linked to Gramsci's call for a type of education that allows the emergence of intellectuals who share the passions of the masses of workers. Supporters of adult and popular education consider Gramsci to be a benchmark in this regard.
