Abstract
Members of a multidisciplinary elite, specified by their involvement in the cultural definition of a complex, moral issue, “brain death,” are examined in terms of (1) their biographical, demographic, and organizational characteristics; and (2) their substantive contributions to the institutionalization of the concept of “brain death.” Since there are as yet no formal organizations or social roles of “death definers,” particular attention is addressed to participants' social identities, their reasons for involvement with this issue, and their emergent and formal social formations. Their work and social structure are compared with other cultural elites, intellectuals, and scientists. It is argued that the process of redefining death was a dialectical process of organization, production, reception, and response driven by conflict and opposition among the elite, rather than by consensus.
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Rado, L. Cultural elites and the institutionalization of ideas. Sociol Forum 2, 42–66 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01107893
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01107893