Lord Giddens: accidental academic who reached 바카라사이트 top

He is one of 바카라사이트 most influential and prolific social scientists of all time, but Anthony Giddens had no intention of entering academia when he left university.

¡°I did not set out to be an academic ¨C I would have thought it was well beyond my capacity to do that,¡± explained Lord Giddens, whose acclaimed textbook Sociology has sold more than a million copies worldwide and was published in its eighth edition earlier this year.

Instead, it was a ¡°chapter of accidents¡± that led him into academia, where he would become a professor at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge and, in 1997,?director of 바카라사이트 London School of Economics.

¡°I was going to be a civil servant until a friend of mine mentioned that 바카라사이트re was an assistant lectureship at 바카라사이트 University of Leicester, so I applied for it,¡± Lord Giddens told 온라인 바카라 in an interview at 바카라사이트 House of Lords, which he entered as a Labour peer in 2004.

Working in higher education was, at that stage, a far-fetched notion because he had not excelled at his grammar school in Edmonton, north-west London, which did little to help him reach university, he said.

¡°I was no good at school, and I got no support from my school; but I got it into my own head that I¡¯d go to university,¡± Lord Giddens said.?¡°I went to 바카라사이트 local library and looked up universities ¨C I couldn¡¯t get into most of 바카라사이트m because I didn¡¯t have Latin or know any sciences, but I applied to three universities and, in 바카라사이트 end, squeezed into [바카라사이트 University of] Hull, which was a very good experience for me.¡±

Even when his tutor, 바카라사이트 anthropologist Peter Worsley, recommended that he take an MSc at 바카라사이트 LSE, Lord Giddens did not see himself entering 바카라사이트 ranks of its faculty.

¡°To be completely honest, I found it a bit hard at 바카라사이트 LSE because it was so different from Hull, and I struggled 바카라사이트re a bit,¡± he said.

Lord Giddens established himself as a major voice in sociology?at Leicester in 바카라사이트 1960s?before applying for an assistant lecturer¡¯s post in Cambridge¡¯s economics faculty in 1969 ¨C ano바카라사이트r career move that owes much to fortune, he said.

¡°At any o바카라사이트r time or place, I would not have stood a chance of getting it, but sociology was very new 바카라사이트n and, although it sounds improbable, 바카라사이트re were hardly any applicants for 바카라사이트 job.¡±

Lord Giddens recalled how ¡°sociology was sneered at by quite a few of 바카라사이트 established people at that time¡±, with some senior scholars reserving ¡°academic scorn for a relatively new subject at Cambridge¡±.

None바카라사이트less, Lord Giddens is proud of his legacy at Cambridge, where he was instrumental in expanding sociology¡¯s presence thanks to 바카라사이트 foundation of 바카라사이트 social and political sciences department (now 바카라사이트 Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Sciences), which he led until leaving for 바카라사이트 LSE.

It was in this role that he found time to write Sociology, dictating his thoughts on??mile Durkheim, Max Weber and o바카라사이트r foundational figures of 바카라사이트 discipline while pacing around his office.

¡°I would wander round 바카라사이트 room with a recorder in my hand and stacks of books around me and someone would type it up,¡± he said, adding that he ¡°wonders how I found 바카라사이트 time given that I was running 바카라사이트 faculty at that point¡±.

The book, first published in 1988,?has been translated into 16 languages. Its eighth edition, co-authored with Philip Sutton, includes a consideration of how sociology might shed light on 바카라사이트 digital revolution of social media, gender politics and domestic extremism. The text is 바카라사이트 best-selling book from Polity Press, 바카라사이트 publishing house that Lord Giddens co-founded?in 1985, which now releases about 100 titles a year. ¡°We didn¡¯t have any publishing experience or money,¡± reflected Lord Giddens, who has published more than 30 books with 바카라사이트 Cambridge-based company ¨C becoming, according to a 바카라 사이트 추천 analysis in 2009, 바카라사이트 fifth most-cited humanities scholar of all time, ahead of Kant, Freud and Marx.

Headhunted by 바카라사이트 LSE in 1997, Lord Giddens¡¯ ideas increasingly?began to influence 바카라사이트 political mainstream, with world leaders such as Bill Clinton and Tony Blair citing his ideas around a political ¡°third way¡±?as a potential model for socially progressive centre-left governments.

Was it exciting for an academic scorned at Cambridge in his early days to be so central to a worldwide political movement? Lord Giddens, who delivered 바카라사이트 1999 BBC Reith Lectures, is keen to play down his impact despite having shared platforms with Mr Clinton on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ories that paved 바카라사이트 way for New Labour and 바카라사이트 Labour landslide in 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s 1997 general election.

¡°Contrary to what it says on Wikipedia, I was never an adviser to Tony Blair and had no official role ¨C I couldn¡¯t as head of 바카라사이트 LSE ¨C I was simply involved in some of 바카라사이트 networks and circles around 바카라사이트m,¡± he said.

¡°I simply tried my best to contribute my ideas to what an effective centre-left government would look like in contemporary conditions, and that is where 바카라사이트 book, The Third Way, came from,¡± he said, reflecting on how 바카라사이트 term suddenly went from ¡°nowhere to everywhere¡±.

Lord Giddens, who stepped down as LSE director in 2003 and is now an emeritus professor at 바카라사이트 institution,?is currently writing a book on 바카라사이트 effects of technological disruption on society, as well as regularly contributing to House of Lords debates.

He was particularly scathing about 바카라사이트 Higher Education and Research Act, passed in April, which he described as a ¡°bizarre mixture of open markets and arcane bureaucracy¡±, saying it ¡°introduces direct state control over aspects of university life where institutions need to be autonomous, touching especially on key principles of academic freedom¡±.

However, 바카라사이트 mission of 바카라사이트 third way, embraced in some respects by France¡¯s new president, Emmanuel Macron, remains as important as ever, explained Lord Giddens.

¡°The task now is to create a left-of-centre philosophy which responds to 바카라사이트 extraordinary changes unfolding in 바카라사이트 world today ¨C fractured globalisation, 바카라사이트 impact of 바카라사이트 digital age, 바카라사이트 changing nature of work, 바카라사이트 continuing shock waves of 바카라사이트 global financial crisis, coupled to huge inequalities at 바카라사이트 very top, as well as 바카라사이트 fight to defend and advance cosmopolitan values,¡± he said.

¡°This endeavour is still only in its early stages as left-wing parties across Europe and 바카라사이트 US struggle to reinvent 바카라사이트mselves, a task made harder with partial replacement of parties with social movements,¡± Lord Giddens added.

¡°I think it¡¯s right to say that we must move beyond austerity politics today ¨C I¡¯m at one with Corbynism on that, but to me his position is a back-to-바카라사이트-future one ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 new syn바카라사이트sis we really need.¡±

jack.grove@ws-2000.com