Braindroppings: Anthony Giddens

November 08, 2005

Anthony Giddens

I went to listen to Anthony Giddens' talk last night. He is a famous sociologist and the former director of the London School of Economics (LSE), and consequently, his signature is on my MSc degree! He was and is a major advisor to the New Labour and Tony Blair. Since retiring from the LSE, he has become "Professor Lord Baron Anthony Giddens" and sits in the House of Lords for the Labour.

His talk was about Globalisation, his field of expertise. The talk was designed for the general audiences (which concidering the fact that he was talking at the UCLA, was a bit surprising), and thus he did not talk much about theories or issues. Most of the time he summarised the concept of Globalisation and its components. For the rest, he talked about terrorism and sounded a bit like the 24 hour news channels!

It is interesting that when he was a professor, he used to say the same things in a more neutral way, but since becoming a full time politician, he sounds very politically charged. At times, his talk almost sounded like the old imperialist/colonialist rhetoric of the bygone years! I was suprised and I was not sure how I should react.

In any case, listening to him was interesting, particularly hs answers to some angry sounding questions.

Here is the result of a Google search on him. There are even Anthony Giddens Trading Cards being sold in the internet!!!

Posted by Khodadad at November 8, 2005 09:52 PM

Comments

I think that the recent London bombings probably had a strong effect on all English politicians. Did he discuss his views on the Iraq invasion? Was he for or against globalization (making the world safe for aristocratic domination!)?

I just tried to Google myself. Lots of entries, but none of them me, just different people with variations on my name. Of course, I only looked at the first twenty. Maybe there was a footnote about me way down the list somewhere. :)

I have a new post inspired by one of my Iraqi blog friends. She tagged me!

Posted by: David at November 9, 2005 10:40 PM