Still, the danger is that we'll get the reverse of what we wanted. Instead of suggesting that the political dimensions of popular culture are not necessarily the same as the political dimensions of poverty, we can wind up flattening out the field of politics itself. We can wind up squeezing Hollywood movies and the World Bank into some bizarre relationship of equivalence. It feels as though the whole thing ought to fit together. So while the difference between activists and intellectuals are generally cited by each group to verbally abuse the other, there are some important distinctions.
Intellectual work is the work of abstraction, recombination and imagination.
Conversely, when I'm an activist, I work for a particular group to particular ends. I've written all sorts of literature for them, participated in various organizing efforts, run meetings, and helped train other organizers. So my activist work is based in allegiance to a specific organization to which I'm quite monogamous. I'll show up to other peoples' rallies and actions, but my activist time is concentrated in one place. Activist work is much more clearly ends-oriented and based in immediate and tangible results.