Seymour Martin Lipset ( ; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. His major work was in the fields of political sociology,

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

organization,

social stratification Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political ...

, public opinion, and the sociology of intellectual life. He also wrote extensively about the conditions for democracy in comparative perspective. He was president of both the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...

(1979–1980) and the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

(1992–1993). A

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

in his early life, Lipset later moved to the right, and was considered to be one of the first

neoconservatives Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party along with the growing New Left and ...

. At his death in 2006, ''The Guardian'' called him "the leading theorist of democracy and

American exceptionalism American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is either distinctive, unique, or exemplary compared to other nations. Proponents argue that the Culture of the United States, values, Politics of the United States, political system ...

"; ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' labeled him "a pre-eminent sociologist, political scientist and incisive theorist of American uniqueness" and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reported that he was "one of the most influential social scientists of the past half century."

Early life and education

Lipset was born in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, New York City, the son of

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

immigrants. He grew up in the Bronx among Irish, Italian and Jewish youth. "I was in that atmosphere where there was a lot of political talk," Lipset recalled, "but you never heard of Democrats or Republicans; the question was communists, socialists, Trotskyists, or anarchists. It was all sorts of different left wing groups." From an early age, Seymour was active in the Young People's Socialist League, "an organization of young Trotskyists that he would later head." He graduated from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, where he was an

anti-Stalinist left The anti-Stalinist left encompasses various kinds of Left-wing politics, left-wing political movements that oppose Joseph Stalin, Stalinism, neo-Stalinism and the History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), system of governance that Stalin impleme ...

ist. He received a PhD in sociology from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1949. Before that he taught at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Career

Lipset was the Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science and Sociology at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and a senior

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace and formerly The Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace) is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic ...

and then became the George D. Markham Professor of Government and Sociology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He also taught at

, the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, the

, and

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, where he was the Hazel Professor of Public Policy. Lipset was a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He was the only person to have been President of both the

(1979–1980) and the

(1992–1993). He also served as the President of the International Society of Political Psychology, the Sociological Research Association, the World Association for Public Opinion Research, the Society for Comparative Research, and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Society in Vienna. Lipset received the MacIver Prize for ''

Political Man ''Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics'' is a political science book from 1960 by Seymour Martin Lipset. The book is an influential analysis of the bases of democracy across the world. One of the important sections is Chapter 2: "Economic ...

'' (1960) and, in 1970, the

Gunnar Myrdal Prize The European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) is a pluralist forum of social scientists that brings together institutional and evolutionary economists broadly defined. EAEPE members are scholars working on realistic approa ...

for ''The Politics of Unreason''. In 2001, Lipset was named among the top 100 American intellectuals, as measured by academic citations, in

Richard Posner Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American legal scholar and retired United States circuit judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chicag ...

's book, ''Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline.''

Academic research

"Some Social Requisites of Democracy"

One of Lipset's most cited works is "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy" (1959), a key work on

modernization theory Modernization theory or modernisation theory holds that as societies become more economically modernized, wealthier and more educated, their political institutions become increasingly liberal democratic and rationalist. The "classical" theories ...

, on

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...

, and an article that includes the Lipset hypothesis that economic development leads to democracy. Lipset was one of the first proponents of the "theory of modernization", which states that democracy is the direct result of economic growth, and that " e more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy." Lipset's modernization theory has continued to be a significant factor in academic discussions and research relating to

democratic transitions A democratic transition describes a phase in a country's political system as a result of an ongoing change from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one. The process is known as democratisation, political changes moving in a democratic directi ...

. It has been referred to as the "Lipset hypothesis" and the "Lipset thesis". The Lipset hypothesis has been challenged by

Guillermo O'Donnell Guillermo Alberto O'Donnell Ure (February 24, 1936 – November 29, 2011) was a prominent Argentine political scientist who specialized in comparative politics and Latin American politics. He spent most of his career working in Argentina and ...

Adam Przeworski Adam Przeworski (; born May 5, 1940) is a Polish-American professor of political science specializing in comparative politics. He is Carroll and Milton Professor Emeritus in the Department of Politics of New York University. He is a scholar of dem ...

and

Daron Acemoglu Kamer Daron Acemoğlu (;, ; born September 3, 1967) is a Turkish Americans, Turkish-American economist of Armenians in Turkey, Armenian descent who has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1993, where he is currently the Ja ...

and James A. Robinson. One of the debates as to how exactly democracy emerges, is between endogenous or exogenous democratization. Endogenous democratization holds the argument that democratization happens as a result of the country's previous history leading up to that point. So here economic development and expansion of the middle class play a crucial role. Proponents of this viewpoint are Charles Boix and Susan C. Stokes. Exogenous democratization, on the other hand, argues that democratization happens as a result of external factors, such as the zeitgeist of pro-democracy political movements seen across the world from the third wave of democratization up until the 1990s. According to

and

Fernando Limongi Fernando de Magalhães Papaterra Limongi is a Brazilian political scientist who was a member of the Department of Political Science in the Faculty of Philosophy, Literature and Social Sciences at the University of São Paulo (USP) from 1986 until ...

, the reason for the correlation between economic wealth and democracy is for the simple reason that once a country has transitioned to a democratic rule, it has a much better chance of staying democratic if it is wealthy, where as poor countries most often fall back into autocratic rule.

''Political Man''

''Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics'', published in 1960, is an influential analysis of the bases of democracy, fascism, communism ("working class authoritarianism"), and other political organizations, across the world, in the interwar period and after World War II. One of the important sections is Chapter 2: "Economic Development and Democracy." Larry Diamond and Gary Marks argue that "Lipset's assertion of a direct relationship between economic development and democracy has been subjected to extensive empirical examination, both quantitative and qualitative, in the past 30 years. And the evidence shows, with striking clarity and consistency, a strong causal relationship between economic development and democracy." In Chapter V, Lipset analyzed "Fascism"—Left, Right, and Center, and explained that the study of the social bases of different modern mass movements suggests that each major social stratum has both democratic and extremist political expressions. He explained the mistakes of identifying extremism as a right-wing phenomenon, and Communism with the left-wing phenomenon. He underlined that extremist ideologies and groups can be classified and analyzed in the same terms as democratic groups, i.e., right, left, and center. ''Political Man'' was published and republished in several editions, sold more than 400,000 copies and was translated into 20 languages, including: Vietnamese, Bengali, and Serbo-Croatian.

"Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments"

In 1967, Lipset co-authored work with

Stein Rokkan Stein Rokkan (July 4, 1921 – July 22, 1979) was a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist. He was the first professor of sociology at the University of Bergen and a principal founder of the discipline of comparative politics. He founded ...

, Lipset introduced

critical juncture theory Critical juncture theory focuses on critical junctures, i.e., large, rapid, discontinuous changes, and the long-term causal effect or historical legacy of these changes. Critical junctures are turning points that alter the course of evolution of ...

and made a substantial contributions to

cleavage Cleavage may refer to: Science * Cleavage (crystal), the way in which a crystal or mineral tends to split * Cleavage (embryo), the division of cells in an early embryo * Cleavage (geology), foliation of rock perpendicular to stress, a result of ...

theory.

''The Democratic Century''

In ''The Democratic Century'', published in 2004, Lipset sought to explain why North America developed stable democracies and Latin America did not. He argued that the reason for this divergence is that the initial patterns of colonization, the subsequent process of economic incorporation of the new colonies, and the wars of independence varied. The divergent histories of Britain and Iberia are seen as creating different cultural legacies that affected the prospects of democracy.

Public affairs

Lipset left the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

in 1960 and later described himself as a centrist, deeply influenced by

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

, and

Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...

. He became active within the Democratic Party's conservative wing, and associated with neoconservatives, without calling himself one. Lipset was vice chair of the board of directors of the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American independent, nonprofit, national institute funded by the U.S. Congress and tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. See alsPDF on USIP website. It provides rese ...

, a board member of the

Albert Shanker Institute The Albert Shanker Institute (ASI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to three themes: excellence in public education, unions as advocates for quality, and freedom of association in the public life of democracies. Its mission is to ...

, a member of the US Board of Foreign Scholarships, co-chair of the Committee for Labor Law Reform, co-chair of the Committee for an Effective

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, and consultant to the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the National Humanities Institute, the

National Endowment for Democracy The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization in the United States founded in 1983 with the stated aim of advancing democracy worldwide and counter communism, communist influence abroad, by prom ...

, and the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

. Lipset was a strong supporter of the state of Israel, and was President of the American Professors for Peace in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, chair of the National

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International ( ; from ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit Jewish service organization and was formerly a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants to the United States. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the se ...

Hillel Commission and the Faculty Advisory Cabinet of the

United Jewish Appeal The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization for the Jewish Federations system, representing over 350 independent Jewish communities across North Ameri ...

, and co-chair of the executive committee of the International Center for Peace in the Middle East. He worked for years on seeking solution for the

Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about Territory, land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation ...

as part of his larger project of research on the factors that allow societies to sustain stable and peaceful democracies. His work focused on the way in which high levels of socioeconomic development created the preconditions for democracy (see also

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

's work), and the consequences of democracy for peace.Spence, Metta. "Lipset's Gift to Peace Workers: On Getting and Keeping Democracy"

Awards

Lipset's book ''The First New Nation'' was a finalist for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. He was also awarded the

Townsend Harris Townsend Harris (October 4, 1804 – February 25, 1878) was an American merchant and politician who served as the first United States Consul General to Japan. He negotiated the Harris Treaty between the US and Japan and is credited as the dip ...

and Margaret Byrd Dawson Medals for significant achievement, the Northern Telecom-International Council for Canadian Studies Gold Medal, and the Leon Epstein Prize in Comparative Politics by the

. He received the Marshall Sklare Award for distinction in

Jewish studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; ) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (especially Jewish history), Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, ...

and, in 1997, he was awarded the Helen Dinnerman Prize by the World Association for Public Opinion Research.

Personal life

Lipset's first wife, Elsie, died in 1987. She was the mother of his three children, David, Daniel, and Carola ("Cici"). David Lipset is a professor of anthropology at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. He had six grandchildren. Lipset was survived by his second wife, Sydnee Guyer (a director of the JCRC), whom he married in 1990. At age 84, Lipset died as a result of complications following a stroke.

Selected works

* "The Rural Community and Political Leadership in Saskatchewan." ''Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science'' 13.3 (1947): 410–428. * ''Agrarian Socialism: The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation in Saskatchewan, a Study in Political Sociology'' (1950), (1972 printing) * ''We'll Go Down to Washington'' (1951) * "Democracy in Private Government: a case study of the International Typographical Union." ''British Journal of Sociology'' (1952) 3:47–5
in JSTOR
* '' Union Democracy: The Internal Politics of the International Typographical Union'' (1956) with Martin Trow and James S. Coleman ** "The Biography of a Research Project: Union Democracy." in ''Sociologists at Work: the craft of social research'' edited by Phillip E. Hammond. (1964) * ''Social Mobility in Industrial Society'' with

Reinhard Bendix Reinhard Bendix (February 25, 1916 – February 28, 1991) was a German-American sociologist. Life and career Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1916, he briefly belonged to Neu Beginnen and Hashomer Hatzair, groups that resisted the Nazis. In 1938 ...

(1959), * ''Social Structure and Mobility in Economic Development'' with Neil J. Smelser (1966), * "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy." ''The American Political Science Review'' Volume 53, Issue 1 (1959): 69–105. * "Social Stratification and right-wing extremism," ''British Journal of Sociology'' (1959) 10:346–382. * '' Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics'' (1960),
online
* ''The First New Nation'' (1963),
online
* ''The Berkeley Student Revolt: Facts and Interpretations'', edited with Sheldon S. Wolin (1965) * ''Party Systems and Voter Alignments'', co-edited with

(Free Press, 1967) * ''Student Politics'' (1967), * ''Revolution and Counterrevolution: Change and Persistence in Social Structures,'' (1968) (1988 printing) * editor, ''Politics and the social sciences'' (1969) * ''Prejudice and Society'' with Earl Raab * ''The Politics of Unreason: Right Wing Extremism in America, 1790–1970'' with Earl Raab (1970),
online
* ''Rebellion in the University'' (1971) * ''Education and politics at Harvard: Two essays prepared for the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education'' (1975) with

David Riesman David Riesman (September 22, 1909 – May 10, 2002) was an American sociologist, educator, and best-selling commentator on American society. Career Born to a wealthy German Jewish family, Riesman attended Harvard College, where he graduated in ...

* ''The Divided Academy: Professors and Politics'' with Everett Carll Ladd, Jr. (1975), * editor, ''The Third century : America as a post-industrial society'' (1979
online
* ''The Confidence Gap: Business, Labor, and Government in the Public Mind'' (1983
online
* ''Consensus and Conflict: Essays in Political Sociology'' (1985
online
* ''Unions in transition: entering the second century'' (1986) * editor, ''Revolution and Counterrevolution: Change and Persistence in Social Structures'' (1988) * ''Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada'' (1989) * "Liberalism, Conservatism, and Americanism", ''Ethics & International Affairs'' vol 3 (1989)
online
* "The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited." ''American Sociological Review'' Vol. 59, No. 1: 1-22. (1994
online
* ''Jews and the New American Scene'' with Earl Raab (1995) * "Steady Work: An Academic Memoir", in ''Annual Review of Sociology,'' Vol. 22, 1996 * ''American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword'' (1996
online
* ''It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States'' with Gary Marks (2000),
online
* ''The Paradox of American Unionism: Why Americans Like Unions More Than Canadians Do, but Join Much Less'' with Noah Meltz, Rafael Gomez, and

Ivan Katchanovski Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek language, Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Sla ...

(2004), * ''The Democratic Century'' with Jason M. Lakin (2004),
online

References

Resources on Lipset and his research

* Archer, Robin, "Seymour Martin Lipset and political sociology." ''The British Journal of Sociology'' Volume 61, Issues 1 (2010) * Philipp Korom, "The political sociologist Seymour M. Lipset: Remembered in political science, neglected in sociology." ''European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology'' 6:4 (2019), 448–473, DOI: 10.1080/23254823.2019.157085
The political sociologist Seymour M. Lipset: Remembered in political science, neglected in sociology - PMC

External links

interview with Ben Wattenberg (

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

)
Claude S. Fischer and Ann Swidler, "Seymour M. Lipset", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2016)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipset, Seymour 1922 births 2006 deaths American sociologists American male non-fiction writers Jewish sociologists Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Columbia University faculty Former Marxists George Mason University faculty Harvard University faculty Jewish American historians Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish American social scientists Labor historians Presidents of the American Sociological Association Academic staff of the University of Toronto American people of Russian-Jewish descent American Zionists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians Social Science Research Council 20th-century American Jews Members of the American Philosophical Society 20th-century American political scientists Neoconservatism

Early life and education

Career

Academic research

"Some Social Requisites of Democracy"

''Political Man''

"Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments"

''The Democratic Century''

Public affairs

Awards

Personal life

Selected works

See also

References

Further reading

Resources on Lipset and his research

External links