Inventing the egghead: The paradoxes of brainpower in cold war American culture

This essay studies the emergence of the egghead as a figuration of intellectuals in Cold War American culture. The characteristics of the egghead accentuated his failed masculinity, queer sexuality, racialized identity, and fragile commitment to American ideals. The egghead functioned both to limit those for whom intelligence was culturally available and to malign those who attempted to advocate education and the expansion of intelligence as a vehicle for social change. Though this was often framed as a liberal political intervention, the climate of the Cold War and the attendant social inequalities in the United States in this period ensured that the popular use of the egghead label served chiefly to build up a virulently white, masculine liberalism.