Why Intellectuals Rebel: a Comparative Study of Collective Action Among Academics and Medical Doctors in State Employment in Nigeria

This book reports on the outcome of a study aimed at explaining how members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Nigerian Medical Association, particularly those in state- employment, have come to choose strike action as means of dispute settlement. Alienation is proposed as a thematic explanation. The objective was to test Gouldner's proposition that collective consciousness and action among intellectuals is not due to dimensions of alienation proposed by Marx and Engels in 1848 and amplified over a decade later by Blauner and Seeman; it is the denial of the culture of critical discourse that stimulates collective action among intellectuals. The design was a national survey of 956 academics and medical doctor in state-owned universities and hospitals using multi-stage sampling, questionnaire, and in-depth interview of key informants and officials. The findings affirm a strong link between alienation and employee rebelliousness but debunk wholesale application of the traditional Marxist theory of working class alienation. Gouldner's CCD such as over-production of intellectuals etc, are shown to be stronger correlates