Seymour Martin Lipset facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Seymour M. Lipset
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Seymour Martin Lipset
March 18, 1922 |
| Died | December 31, 2006 (aged 84) |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
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Seymour Martin Lipset (/ˈlɪpsɪt/ LIP-sit; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist. He studied how societies work, especially focusing on politics and how people behave in groups.
Lipset was very interested in how democracy grows and stays strong in different countries. He also looked at trade unions (groups of workers), how society is organized into different levels (like rich and poor), and what people think about important issues.
When he passed away in 2006, many news outlets praised his work. The Guardian called him "the leading theorist of democracy." The New York Times said he was "a pre-eminent sociologist, political scientist." The Washington Post described him as "one of the most influential social scientists of the past half century."
Contents
Early Life and Education
Seymour Martin Lipset was born in Harlem, New York City. His parents were immigrants from Russia. They hoped he would become a dentist.
He grew up in the Bronx, a part of New York City. He was surrounded by young people from Irish, Italian, and Jewish families. Lipset remembered that there was a lot of political talk around him. People often discussed different left-wing groups like communists and socialists.
From a young age, Seymour was active in the Young People's Socialist League. He later became the leader of this group. He went to City College of New York. In 1949, he earned his PhD in sociology from Columbia University. Before that, he taught at the University of Toronto.
Academic Career
Lipset had a long and successful career teaching at many famous universities. He was a professor of political science and sociology at Stanford University. He also taught at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
He was a member of important groups like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the only person to be president of both the American Political Science Association and the American Sociological Association. These are two of the biggest groups for experts in politics and society in the United States.
Lipset won several awards for his books. He received the MacIver Prize for his book Political Man in 1960. In 1970, he won the Gunnar Myrdal Prize. In 2001, he was named one of the top 100 American thinkers.
Academic Research
Lipset's research helped us understand how societies change and why some countries become democracies.
How Countries Become Democracies
One of Lipset's most famous ideas is about how countries become democratic. In his 1959 work, "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy," he suggested that economic growth helps a country become a democracy. This idea is often called the "Lipset hypothesis."
He believed that "the more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy." This means that richer countries are more likely to stay democratic. This idea has been very important in studies about how countries change to become democracies.
However, other thinkers have challenged this idea. Some argue that democracy can happen for other reasons, like outside influences or simply because a country is wealthy enough to stay democratic once it becomes one.
Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics
His book Political Man (1960) is a very important book about democracy. It looks at why different political groups, like fascists or communists, gain power around the world.
In this book, Lipset showed that economic development is strongly linked to democracy. He also explained that extreme political ideas can come from any part of society, not just the right or left. He said that both democratic and extreme groups can be found across the political spectrum.
Political Man was very popular. It sold over 400,000 copies and was translated into 20 languages.
How Political Groups Form
In 1967, Lipset worked with Stein Rokkan on a book called Party Systems and Voter Alignments. In this work, they introduced the idea of "cleavage theory." This theory helps explain how different groups in society (like workers, farmers, or religious groups) form political parties and vote.
Why Democracies Differ
In his 2004 book, The Democratic Century, Lipset tried to explain why North America (like the United States and Canada) developed strong democracies, but Latin American countries often did not. He argued that the way these regions were first settled and how their economies grew made a big difference. The history and culture of Britain (which settled North America) and Spain/Portugal (which settled Latin America) also played a role.
Public Affairs
Lipset started out as a socialist, but he later changed his political views. He described himself as a "centrist," meaning he held moderate political beliefs. He was influenced by famous thinkers like Alexis de Tocqueville and Max Weber.
He was involved in many important organizations. He was vice-chair of the United States Institute of Peace, which works to prevent and resolve conflicts. He also served on the board of the Albert Shanker Institute, which focuses on education and labor.
Lipset was a strong supporter of Israel. He worked for many years to find solutions for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He believed that strong economic development helps societies become peaceful democracies.
Awards
Lipset received many awards for his work. His book The First New Nation was a finalist for the National Book Award. He also received the Leon Epstein Prize in Comparative Politics from the American Political Science Association.
In 1997, he was awarded the Helen Dinnerman Prize for his work in public opinion research.
Personal Life
Seymour Martin Lipset was married twice. His first wife, Elsie, passed away in 1987. They had three children: David, Daniel, and Carola. His son, David Lipset, is a professor of anthropology. Seymour also had six grandchildren.
In 1990, he married his second wife, Sydnee Guyer.
Lipset passed away at the age of 84 due to complications from a stroke.
Selected Works
- Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics (1960)
- The First New Nation (1963)
- Party Systems and Voter Alignments, co-edited with Stein Rokkan (1967)
- The Politics of Unreason: Right Wing Extremism in America, 1790–1970 with Earl Raab (1970)
- The Democratic Century with Jason M. Lakin (2004)
See also
In Spanish: Seymour Martin Lipset para niños
- American civil religion
- Comparative politics
- Democratization
- Juan José Linz
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: 10.1080/23254823.2019.1570859 [1]
