Anthony Giddens
The Third Way's theorist
Beyond left and right.
Reformist Third-Way LabouriteOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Third-Way Labourite hall →- Role
- Sociologist
- Era
- b. 1938
- Region
- United Kingdom
- Social band
- Reformist
- Placement
- +4 · +20 · +38
§ Where Anthony Giddens stands
3 axesGiddens argues that globalisation and the knowledge economy have made nationalisation and old-style demand management obsolete, so the centre-left must accept markets. In The Third Way (1998) he proposes a 'social investment state' that spends on education, skills and family support rather than passive benefits, and a new mixed economy balancing regulation with deregulation, which places him at the centre.
He favours an active, enabling state rather than a minimal one, and proposed 'no rights without responsibilities' as a motto for the new politics, tying welfare to obligations such as seeking work. He has also worked inside the institutions he theorises, directing the London School of Economics from 1997 to 2003 and entering the House of Lords as a Labour peer in 2004.
Giddens is a progressive moderniser on social questions. The Transformation of Intimacy (1992) welcomes the democratisation of personal life, including equality between the sexes and the openness of gay and lesbian relationships, and his idea of 'life politics' puts identity, lifestyle and environmental risk at the centre of modern politics. The Politics of Climate Change (2009) argues for decisive state action on global warming.
How close are you to Anthony Giddens?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
LivingAnthony Giddens (b. 1938) is a British sociologist, born in Edmonton, north London, and educated at the University of Hull, the London School of Economics and Cambridge, where he taught for many years and became professor of sociology. His theory of structuration, set out most fully in The Constitution of Society (1984), made him one of the most widely cited social theorists of his generation. He co-founded the academic publisher Polity Press, directed the London School of Economics from 1997 to 2003 and was made a life peer in 2004.
Giddens is the leading theorist of the Third Way, the attempt to renew social democracy after the decline of both the Keynesian welfare state and Thatcherite neoliberalism. Beyond Left and Right (1994) and The Third Way (1998) argued that globalisation, individualisation and new kinds of risk demanded a politics of the radical centre, and he advised Tony Blair and joined transatlantic Third Way dialogues with Bill Clinton's Democrats. Critics on the left accuse him of giving intellectual cover to neoliberalism; he answered them in The Third Way and Its Critics (2000).
Notable for
- 01'The Third Way' (1998)
- 02Theory of structuration
- 03Adviser to New Labour
Key works & moments
- 1984Publishes The Constitution of Society, setting out his theory of structuration.
- 1994Beyond Left and Right argues the old ideological divide no longer fits modern societies.
- 1997Becomes director of the London School of Economics, serving until 2003.
- 1998Publishes The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy.
- 1999Delivers the BBC Reith Lectures, published as Runaway World.
- 2004Created a Labour life peer as Baron Giddens.
§ Minds closest to Anthony Giddens
All minds →
§ Also in the Third-Way Labourite hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Anthony Giddens's political ideology?
Anthony Giddens is a Third Way social democrat and the movement's chief theorist: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reformist Third-Way Labourite. Economically he sits at the centre (+4), accepting markets and globalisation while calling for a social investment state. On governance he favours an active, enabling state that pairs rights with responsibilities (+20), and socially he is clearly progressive (+38), championing gender equality, the democratisation of private life and action on climate change.
Is Anthony Giddens left-wing or right-wing?
Centre-left. Giddens presents himself as renewing social democracy, not abandoning it: he wants to keep its goals of social justice and solidarity while dropping nationalisation and old-style demand management. Critics on the left argue that this concedes too much to markets and that the Third Way was neoliberalism with a human face, while conservatives see his social liberalism as part of the cultural left. On balance he is a moderate of the left rather than a figure of the right.
What is the Third Way in politics?
The Third Way is the strategy, set out most fully in Giddens's 1998 book, of renewing centre-left politics between old-style socialism and free-market neoliberalism. It accepts markets, fiscal discipline and globalisation, but uses the state to invest in education, skills and families, ties welfare rights to responsibilities and embraces social liberalism. In the 1990s it was associated with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair's New Labour and Gerhard Schröder's Neue Mitte, and it lost ground after the 2008 financial crisis.
Which minds are closest to Anthony Giddens?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Anthony Giddens are Josiah Bartlet's centrists (archetype) (97% alike), Tony Blair (97% alike) and Paul Keating (96% alike). The furthest is Hans-Hermann Hoppe (31% alike).