Jack A. Goldstone (born September 30, 1953) is an American
sociologist,
political scientist
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 ...
, and historian, specializing in studies of
social movements
A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and ma ...
,
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
s,
political demography, and the 'Rise of the West' in world history. He is an author or editor of 13 books and over 150 research articles. He is recognized as one of the leading authorities on the study of revolutions and long-term social change. His work has made foundational contributions to the fields of
cliodynamics
Cliodynamics () is a transdisciplinary area of research that integrates cultural evolution, economic history/cliometrics, macrosociology, the mathematical modeling of historical processes during the '' longue durée'', and the construction and anal ...
,
economic history
Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and i ...
and
political demography. He was the first scholar to describe in detail and document the long-term cyclical relationship between global population cycles and cycles of political rebellion and revolution. He was also a core member of the "California school" in world history, which replaced the standard view of a dynamic West and stagnant East with a ‘late divergence’ model in which Eastern and Western civilizations underwent similar political and economic cycles until the 18th century, when Europe achieved the technical breakthroughs of industrialization. He is also one of the founding fathers of the emerging field of political demography, studying the impact of local, regional, and global population trends on international security and national politics.
Goldstone is the Virginia E. and John T. Hazel, Jr. Professor of Public Policy and Eminent Scholar in the Schar School of Policy and Government at
George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
in
Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
. In 2016 he was the Elman Family Professor of Public Policy at
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Clear Water Bay Peninsula, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991 by the British Hong Kong Government, it was the territory's third institut ...
and Director of the HKUST Institute for Public Policy. In 2013–2015 he was the founding director of the Research Laboratory in Political Demography and Macrosocial Dynamics at the
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. He has also worked as a
consultant
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servi ...
of the
US government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
, for example, serving as chair of the
National Research Council's evaluation of
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
Democracy Assistance Programs.
He has been a non-resident Senior Fellow at the
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
and is currently a Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Awards
His academic awards include 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 fif ...
Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award, for 'Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World', and the Myron Weiner award for lifetime scholarly achievement from the International Studies Association. He has also won the Arnaldo Momigliano Award of the
Historical Society
A historical society (sometimes also preservation society) is an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, researching, and interpreting historical information or items. Originally, these societies were created as a way to help future gen ...
, and seven awards for 'best article' in the fields of Comparative/Historical Sociology, Political Sociology, Social Theory, and Collective Behavior and Social Movements. He has won fellowships from the Council of Learned Societies, the
U.S. Institute of Peace
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other pea ...
, the
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...
, The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, the Australian Research School of Social Sciences, the
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is s ...
, the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research lab at Stanford University that offers a residential postdoctoral fellowship program for scientists and scholars studying "the five core social a ...
, and is an elected member of the Council on Foreign Affairs and the
Sociological Research Association The Sociological Research Association is an honor society of sociological scholars founded in 1936.
With more than 400 members, the association's importance comes from the members being leading sociologists who use the SRA's meetings to network an ...
. He has been the Richard Holbrooke Visiting Lecturer at the
American Academy in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, the Crayborough Lecturer at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
, and a
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
National Visiting Scholar.
Works
* ''Phases of global demographic transition correlate with phases of the Great Divergence and Great Convergence''], Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2015)
* ''Revolutions: A Very Short Introduction'' (2014)
* ''Political Demography: How Population Changes are Reshaping International Security and National Politics'' co-edited with Eric P. Kaufmann and Monica Duffy Toft (2012)
* ''Understanding the Revolutions of 2011: Weakness and Resilience in Middle Eastern Autocracies'' Foreign Affairs (2011)
* "The New Population Bomb", ''Foreign Affairs'' (2010)
* ''Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History 1500–1850'' (2008)
* ''States, Parties, and Social Movements'' (2003)
*
* ''Revolutions of the Late Twentieth Century'' (1991)
See also
*
Cliodynamics
Cliodynamics () is a transdisciplinary area of research that integrates cultural evolution, economic history/cliometrics, macrosociology, the mathematical modeling of historical processes during the ''longue durée'', and the construction and analy ...
*
Structural-demographic theory
References
Further reading
* Article on work by Goldstone and Peter Turchin.
*
External links
Goldstone's homepage at George Mason UniversityGoldstone's faculty page at GMU's School of Public PolicyNew Population Bomb – Goldstone's blog on The Megatrends Shaping International Security and National PoliticsGoldstone's bioat the
Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with policy experts, lobbyists, and gov ...
*
Responses to Tilly's "Predictions"Jack Goldstone’s Model and the English Civil Warby Brandon W Duke
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstone, Jack
1953 births
Living people
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
21st-century American historians
American political scientists
American sociologists
Harvard University alumni
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology faculty
Revolution theorists
20th-century American male writers