Anne Norton (born 1954) is an American

political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...

and Stacey and Henry Jackson President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Early life

As a child, Norton lived and traveled throughout the world with her family because her father was an officer in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

Academic career

Norton received her B.A. in 1977 and her Ph.D in 1982, both from

The University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

. She has held academic positions at

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, and

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Writings and views

Norton's central intellectual interest has been the meaning and consequences of

political identity Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these id ...

. She has explored this theme in two books on

American politics The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that Separation of powers, share powers. These are: the United States Congress, U.S. Congre ...

and one on the concept of political identity itself, drawing on work in the areas of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

and

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

(Norton 1986, 1993, 1988). She has also written a wide-ranging critique of the current practice of the

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

, particularly political science (Norton, 2004). While a student at the University of Chicago, Norton became acquainted with many of the followers of the philosopher

Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. ...

. In the 1990s, the rise of

neoconservatism Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and ...

into public consciousness prompted her to write a semi-anecdotal book about the Straussians, titled ''Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire'' (Yale University Press, 2004). While some have praised the book as a thoughtful account of the intellectual origins of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

(including

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a spe ...

in the ''

New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

'', 23 September 2004), it has also received harsh criticism for its author being uninformed about her subject and for spreading mere gossip (see Stanley Hoffman, ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

'', Nov/Dec 2004, and Charles Butterworth, Review, MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies, 2005). Emphasizing the flaws in Norton’s attempts to define Straussianism and identify Straussians, Peter Minowitz argues that her book is “disgracefully unscholarly.”

Books

*Norton, Anne, ''Wild Democracy: Anarchy, Courage, and Ruling the Law'', Oxford University Press, 2023. *Norton, Anne, ''On the Muslim Question''. Princeton University Press, 2013. *Norton, Anne. ''Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire''. Yale University Press, 2004. *Norton, Anne. ''Reflections on Political Identity'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988. *Norton, Anne, ''Alternative Americas'' University of Chicago Press, 1986. *Norton, Anne, ''Republic of Signs'' University of Chicago Press, 1993. *Norton, Anne, ''Bloodrites of the Poststructuralists'' Routledge, 2003. *Norton, Anne, ''95 Theses on Politics, Culture & Method'' Yale University Press, 2004. *Strauss, Leo, ''Persecution and the Art of Writing'' University of Chicago Press, reprint edition, 1988.

References

External links

Radio Interview with Anne Norton by Scott Horton
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Anne 1954 births Living people American women political scientists American political scientists American political philosophers University of Chicago alumni Brown University faculty University of Notre Dame faculty Princeton University faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty American women academics 21st-century American women