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

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sociologist and political scientist (President of the American Political Science Association). His major work was in the fields of political sociology,

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

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). As ...

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

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

in his early life, Lipset later moved to the right, and was often considered a

neoconservative 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 coun ...

. 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 inherently different from other nations.

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 (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, 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 pop ...

immigrants. His family urged him to become a dentist. 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 within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, where he was an

anti-Stalinist left The anti-Stalinist left is an umbrella term for various kinds of left-wing political movements that opposed Joseph Stalin, Stalinism and the actual system of governance Stalin implemented as leader of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953. Th ...

ist,. He received a PhD in sociology from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1949. Before that he taught at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Academic career

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

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and a senior

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

at the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

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

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He also taught at Columbia University, the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, the

, and

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 ...

where he was the Hazel Professor of

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

. Lipset was a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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 ...

, the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, 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 Nati ...

, and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

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

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...

(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 fif ...

(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 Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals wi ...

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 jurist and legal scholar who served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chica ...

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

Academic research

"Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy"

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 is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a ful ...

, 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 Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a ful ...

. 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, specializing in comparative politics, who spent most of his career working in Argentina and the United States, and who m ...

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-born American economist who has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 1993. He is currently the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT. H ...

and James A. Robinson.

''Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics''

''Political Man'' (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 this 1967 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 theory.

''The Democratic Century''

In ''The Democratic Century'' (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), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

, and

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...

. 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 Federal government of the United States, federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individual ...

, 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 is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, 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 an organization in the United States that was founded in 1983 for promoting democracy in other countries by promoting political and economic institutions such as political groups, trade unions, ...

, and the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a 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 dean of American Jewish org ...

. 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 ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, chair of the National

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peopl ...

Hillel Commission and the Faculty Advisory Cabinet of the

United Jewish Appeal The United Jewish Appeal (UJA) was a Jewish philanthropic umbrella organization that existed from its creation in 1939 until it was folded into the United Jewish Communities, which was formed from the 1999 merger of United Jewish Appeal (UJA), Cou ...

, 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 one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...

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, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...

'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 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. The Nat ...

. 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 di ...

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; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (esp ...

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, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. 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
online edition
* ''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),
online edition
* ''Social Structure and Mobility in Economic Development'' with

Neil J. Smelser Neil Joseph Smelser (1930–2017) was an American sociologist who served as professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was an active researcher from 1958 to 1994. His research was on collective behavior, sociological the ...

(1966),
online edition
* "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 edition
* ''The First New Nation'' (1963), (1980 printing
online edition
* ''The Berkeley Student Revolt: Facts and Interpretations'', edited with

Sheldon S. Wolin Sheldon Sanford Wolin (; August 4, 1922 – October 21, 2015) was an American political theorist and writer on contemporary politics. A political theorist for fifty years, Wolin became Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University, whe ...

(1965) * ''Party Systems and Voter Alignments'', co-edited with

(Free Press, 1967) * ''Student Politics'' (1967),
online edition
* ''Revolution and Counterrevolution: Change and Persistence in Social Structures,'' (1968) (1988 printing
online version
* editor, ''Politics and the social sciences'' (1969) * ''Prejudice and Society'' with

Earl Raab Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

* ''The Politics of Unreason: Right Wing Extremism in America, 1790–1970'' with Earl Raab (1970), (1978 printing
online edition
* ''Rebellion in the University'' (1971) * ''The Divided Academy: Professors and Politics'' with

Everett Carll Ladd, Jr. Everett Carll Ladd Jr. (September 24, 1937 December 8, 1999) was an American political scientist based at the University of Connecticut. He was best known for his analysis and collection of public opinion polls. He directed the Roper Center for ...

(1975),
online edition
* ''Consensus and Conflict: Essays in Political Sociology'' (1985) * ''Unions in transition: entering the second century'' (1986) * ''The Confidence Gap: Business, Labor, and Government in the Public Mind'' (1987) * 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. * ''Jews and the New American Scene'' with Earl Raab (1995) * ''American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword'' (1996) * ''It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States'' with Gary Marks (2000), * ''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 Katchanovski, ua, Іван Гнатович Качановський (born 1967) is a Ukrainian and Canadian political scientist based in Ottawa, teaches at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. He specializes in re ...

(2004), * ''The Democratic Century'' with Jason M. Lakin (2004), * "Steady Work: An Academic Memoir", in ''Annual Review of Sociology,'' Vol. 22, 199
online version
* "Economic Development and Democracy"

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

External links

Seymour Martin Lipset
interview with Ben Wattenberg ( Public Broadcasting Service, PBS) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipset, Seymour 1922 births 2006 deaths American sociologists American political scientists Jewish sociologists Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty George Mason University faculty Harvard University faculty Jewish American writers Labor historians Presidents of the American Sociological Association University of Toronto faculty American people of Russian-Jewish descent 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 political scientists