Thus, we are told, things are worse than they seem, they are
getting even worse and even the best of plans lead to the worst
of consequences. I will use the terms 'analytical despair' and 'adversarial
nihilism' to describe the complementary cognitive positions
which lead to such conclusions. These are positions only too
easy to sustain, not just because they fit the pessimistic and
dystopian climate I mentioned in the last chapter, but because they
come naturally to large sectors of the intelligentsia of Western
social democracies. As Gouldner nicely suggests, the conservative
and radical critique of intellectuals complement each other. The
conservatives (like Shils) award them autonomy and condemn
them for always being against prevailing culture and authority; the
radicals (like Chomsky) see them as subservient tei power and
condemn them for not opposing the establishment. As Gouldner
says, 'what it comes down to, then, is that the opponents of the
system cannot change it, while the system's friends do not want
to. Thus no rational change is possible.'3