There has been a notable absence of analysis of how the intelligentsia is perceived by society, even though such studies would be instrumental in the current context, where there are growing challenges to authority and intensifying anti-elite sentiment aimed especially at cultural elites. This paper addresses the current authority and symbolic capital of the intelligentsia. It draws on empirical data collected in a survey of Polish society and utilizes Weber’s concept of authority and Bourdieu’s theory of capital. The study established that Poles identify the intelligentsia mainly in its historically shaped form as people with cultural capital and an ethos understood as lifestyle or moral obligation. The image of the intelligentsia is defined in opposition to “specialists without spirit,” and only then it is socially effective and still recognized as symbolically important. As a result, the intelligentsia is cast as an authority, which gives it the right to play a leading role. This paper posits that as long as the image of an ethos-based, selfless group endowed with cultural capital prevails in society, the intelligentsia will continue to possess symbolic capital.