Gareth Stedman Jones (born 17 December 1942) is an English

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and historian. As Professor of the History of Ideas at

Queen Mary, University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

, he deals particularly with working-class history and Marxism.

Career

Educated at St Paul's School and

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, where he graduated in history in 1964, Stedman Jones went on to

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...

to take a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1970. He moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1974, becoming a fellow of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, and in 1979, a lecturer in history. He was a research fellow at

, from 1967 to 1970, a senior associate member of

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...

, in 1971–1972, and an Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Goethe University, Frankfurt in 1973–1974, before becoming a lecturer in history at Cambridge in 1979–1986 and a reader in history of social thought there in 1986–1997. He has served as co-director of the Centre for History and Economics at King's since 1991 and held the post of professor of

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

since 1997. From 1964 to 1981 Stedman Jones served on the editorial board of the ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal covering world politics, economy, and culture, which was established in 1960. History Background As part of the British "New Left" a number of new journals emerged to carry commentary on m ...

''. He was a joint founder of the ''

History Workshop Journal The ''History Workshop Journal'' is a British academic history journal published by Oxford University Press. ''History Workshop'' was founded in 1976 by Raphael Samuel and others involved in the History Workshop movement. Originally sub-titled "A ...

'' in 1976. In 2018, reviewing Stedman Jones's intellectual evolution, historian Terence Renaud described a "journey from the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...

, through French

structuralism In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader ...

, to a contextualist practice of intellectual history that leaves Marxism behind."

Publications

*''Outcast London'', Oxford, 1971, reprinted 1984 (with new preface), 1992 and 2002 *''Languages of Class: Studies in English Working Class History, 1832–1982'', Cambridge, 1983 *''Klassen, Politik, Sprache'', edited by , Munster, 1988 *''Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto'', Harmondsworth, 2002: introduction of 180 pp. *''An End to Poverty?'' London, Profile Books, July 2004 *''Karl Marx: Greatness and Illusion'', published by Allan Lane, August 2016

External links

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 23 April 2012 (video)

References

1942 births Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford British Marxist historians Historians of economic thought Historians of political thought Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Living people People educated at St Paul's School, London Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of history Academics of Queen Mary University of London Fellows of the British Academy {{UK-academic-stub