activism and academia

This thread reminds me of Gramsci's category of "organic intellectuals."

The people who are best positioned to carry out analysis for movement
strategy are activists in the movement.  Some of them, however, develop
this capacity and role more than others, sometimes translating analysis
and theory for the movement's own purposes, and sometimes generating their
own.

A more recent development of this line of thinking is:

Eyerman, Ron and Andrew Jamison.  1991.  Social Movements:  A Cognitive
        Approach.  University Park:  Pennsylvania State University Press.

Eyerman and Jamison analyze movement intellectuals, but they also analyze
movements as cognitive praxis -- a process that subsumes the more
specialized role of certain individuals.

RH