The intelligentsia (Latin: intellegentia, Polish: inteligencja, Russian: интеллигенция; IPA: [ɪntʲɪlʲɪˈɡʲentsɨjə]) is a status class of people engaged in complex mental labors meant to guide and critique and to assume leadership in shaping the culture and politics of their society. As such, the intelligentsia might include artists, school teachers, academics, writers, journalists, and other hommes de lettres (men of letters). Politically, the intelligentsia are the subject of active polemics about their historical role as a progressive influence and as a regressive influence upon the development of a modern society.