Overcoming the crisis of intellectuals: reconstruction of educators` professional identity an status

Abstract

The authors of the article with reference to the discussions about the status of knowledge in the postmodernism discourse and the "crisis of the intellectual" presented in the works by J.F. Lyotard and Z. Bauman, consider these issues in the context of other social challenges. The authors note that in the absence of metanarratives, the phenomenon of intellectuals and intellectual work is transformed: postmodern epistemology has changed the opportunities of mass education about how things should stand / what to have / how to act into the multiple / polyphonic / variable / fragmentary / collage dissemination of knowledge. As an argument in the "crisis of intellectuals" discussion, the authors analyze the educators` need and motivation sphere emphasizing constant knowledge enhancement to be a priority forthem, which logically affects professional identity reconstruction carried out through self-reference.The results of the conducted survey aimed at identifying the range of issues related to the social, motivational, cognitive and emotional spheres of educators` activities enable us to conclude that raising educators` intellectual level affects their psychosocial competences in professional practices. The study presents an algorithm for constructing the intellectual-educator in the conditions of social reality challenges. We conclude that the argument for overcoming the crisis of intellectuals in social reality is educators` intellect and subjectivity formed in the process of self-reference. It serves as a psychological resource of the individual to independently set complex tasks and make complex decisions.