Francis Rory Peregrine "Perry" Anderson (born 11 September 1938) is a British intellectual, historian and essayist. His work ranges across historical sociology, intellectual history, and cultural analysis. What unites Anderson's work is a preoccupation with

Western Marxism Western Marxism is a current of Marxist theory that arose from Western and Central Europe in the aftermath of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the ascent of Leninism. The term denotes a loose collection of theorists who advanced an i ...

. Anderson is perhaps best known as the moving force behind 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 is Professor of History and Sociology at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA). Anderson has written many books, most recently ''Brazil Apart: 1964-2019'' and ''The H-Word: The Peripeteia of Hegemony''. He is the brother of political scientist

Benedict Anderson Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book '' Imagined Communities'', which e ...

(1936–2015).

Background and early life

Anderson was born in 1938 in London. His father, James Carew O'Gorman Anderson (1893–1946), known as Shaemas, an official with the Chinese Maritime Customs, was born into an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

family, the younger son of Brigadier-General Sir Francis Anderson, of Ballydavid,

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

. He was descended from the

Anderson family The Anderson family is a group of professional wrestlers, a part fictional, part real, extended family largely consisting of brothers, cousins and children. Gene Anderson NWA Hall of Famer Gene Anderson (the only actual 'Anderson' of the origi ...

of Ardbrake, Bothriphnie, Scotland, who had settled in Ireland in the early 18th century.Perry Anderson
A Belated Encounter
(Anderson's short biography of his father James) Anderson's mother, Veronica Beatrice Mary Bigham, was English, the daughter of

Trevor Bigham Sir Frank Trevor Roger Bigham, KBE, CB (22 May 1876 – 23 November 1954) was an English barrister, an Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police from 1914 to 1931, and Deputy Commissioner from 1931 to 1935. He was the first offic ...

, who was the Deputy Commissioner of the London

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

, 1914–1931. Anderson's grandmother, Frances, Lady Anderson, belonged to the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

Gorman

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

and was the daughter of the

Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...

Member of Parliament Major

Purcell O'Gorman Purcell O'Gorman (1820 – 24 November 1888) was an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected as a member of the Home Rule League to represent Waterford City. He was elected only ...

,James Frost
"The History and Topography of the County of Clare – Pedigree of MacGorman (O’Gorman)"
Clare County Library. himself the son of Nicholas Purcell O'Gorman who had been involved with the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Society of United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

during the

1798 Rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...

, later becoming Secretary of the

Catholic Association The Catholic Association was an Irish Roman Catholic political organisation set up by Daniel O'Connell in the early nineteenth century to campaign for Catholic emancipation within Great Britain. It was one of the first mass-membership politica ...

in the 1820s. Anderson's father had previously been married to the novelist

Stella Benson Stella Benson (6 January 1892 – 7 December 1933) was an English feminist, novelist, poet, and travel writer. She was a recipient of the Benson Medal. Early life Benson was born to Ralph Beaumont Benson (1862–1911), a member of the landed ...

, and it was after her death in 1933 that he married again. Anderson was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, where he took his first degree.Gregory Elliott (1998)
Perry Anderson: The Merciless Laboratory of History, University of Minnesota Press
p. 1. Early in his life, Anderson made a brief foray into

rock criticism Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, writing under the pseudonym Richard Merton.

Career

In 1962 Anderson became editor of the ''

'', a position he held for twenty years. As scholars of 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 ...

began to reassess their

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

in the mid-1970s, Anderson provided an influential perspective. He published two major volumes of analytical history in 1974: ''Passages from Antiquity to

Feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

'' focuses on the creation and endurance of feudal social formations, while ''Lineages of the Absolutist State'' examines

monarchical absolutism Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constituti ...

. Within their respective topics they are each vast in scope, assessing the whole history of Europe from classical times to the nineteenth century. The books achieved an instant prominence for Anderson, whose wide-ranging analysis

synthesis Synthesis or synthesize may refer to: Science Chemistry and biochemistry *Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors ** Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organ ...

ed elements of history, philosophy, and

political theory Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

. In the 1980s, Anderson took office as a professor at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...

in New York. He returned as editor at ''NLR'' in 2000 for three more years, and after his retirement continued to serve on the journal's editorial committee. As of 2019, he continued to make contributions to the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'', and continued to teach as a Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology at the

Influence and criticism

Anderson bore the brunt of the disapproval of E. P. Thompson in the latter's ''The Poverty of Theory'', in a controversy during the late 1970s over the structuralist Marxism of

Louis Althusser Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. Althusser ...

, and the use of history and theory in the politics of the Left. In the mid-1960s, Thompson wrote an essay for the annual ''

Socialist Register The ''Socialist Register'' is an annual socialist publication. It was founded in 1964 by Ralph Miliband and John Saville. They had criticisms of the ''New Left Review'' (''NLR'') after Perry Anderson became editor of the ''NLR'' in 1962. Miliband ...

'' that rejected Anderson's view of

aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...

dominance of Britain's historical trajectory, as well as Anderson's seeming preference for continental European theorists over radical British traditions and

empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...

. Anderson delivered two responses to Thompson's

polemics Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...

, first in an essay in ''New Left Review'' (January–February 1966) called "Socialism and Pseudo-Empiricism" and then in a more conciliatory yet ambitious overview, ''Arguments within English Marxism'' (1980). While Anderson faced many attacks in his native Britain for favouring continental European philosophers over British thinkers, he did not spare Western European Marxists from criticism; see his ''Considerations on Western Marxism'' (1976). Nevertheless, many of his assaults were delivered against

postmodernist Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

currents in continental Europe. In his book ''In the Tracks of Historical Materialism'' Anderson depicts Paris as the new capital of intellectual reaction, placing himself at odds with the popular notion of postmodernism as a left-wing heresy.

Works

''Passages From Antiquity to Feudalism''
(1974). London: New Left Books. .
''Lineages of the Absolutist State''
(1974). London: New Left Books. . * ''Considerations on Western Marxism'' (1976). London: Verso. . * ''Arguments within English Marxism'' (1980). London: Verso. . * ''In the Tracks of Historical Materialism'' (1983). London: Verso. . * ''English Questions'' (1992). London: Verso. . * ''A Zone of Engagement'' (1992). London: Verso. .
''The Origins of Postmodernity''
(1998). London: Verso. .
''Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas''
(2005). London: Verso. . * '' The New Old World'' (2009). London: Verso. . * ''

The Indian Ideology ''The Indian Ideology'' is a 2012 book by the British Marxist historian Perry Anderson, published by Three Essays Collective. A near-polemical critique of the modern Indian nation-building project, the book consists of three essays originally pu ...

'' (2012). New Delhi: Three Essays Collective. . * ''American Foreign Policy and Its Thinkers'' (2014). London: Verso. . * ''The H-Word: The Peripeteia of Hegemony'' (2017). London: Verso. . * ''The Antinomies of Antonio Gramsci'' (2017). London: Verso. . * ''Brazil Apart: 1964-2019'' (2019). London: Verso. * ''Ever Closer Union?: Europe in the West'' (2021). London: Verso. ISBN 9781839764417. * ''Different Speeds, Same Furies: Powell, Proust and other Literary Forms'' (2022). London: Verso. ISBN 9781804290798.

References

External links