Anthony Giddens is a famous British Sociologist. He was born in Jan. 18th, 1938 and he received a bachelor degree in Sociology and Psychology, Hull University in 1959. After that, he continued his study in Sociology and got a master degree from London School of Economics and a PhD degree from Cambridge. Giddens worked as professor of Sociology and a Fellow of King's College at Cambridge University for many years. From 1997 to 2003, he worked as the Director of LSE, one of the most important institutes in the world. For his personal interest, Giddens is a keen supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.
Dedicated for academia for so many years, Giddens is remembered for many contributions, among which, the Structuation Theory and the Third Way idea are mostly well-known. In one of his recent interviews, Giddens divided his life into two parts, the first 30 years of academic research and the second phase of 15 years political practice.
The Structuation Theory is the best representative of his first 30 years. By introducing this theory, Giddens researched
The Third Way idea was also popularized by Giddens and it strongly influenced the development of New Labour in the UK and other social democratic parties. This idea helped Tony Blair and the New Labour won the election in 1997. He himself has been worked as consultant for Tony Blair, too. Giddens has given lectures around the world and received warm welcome wherever he went.
The reason I think highly of Anthony Giddens is because he is a successful and honest scholar. He's successful because he initiated many important ideas which have enormous influence around the world. He is not just sitting at home doing research. His knowledge and wisdom has practical use for the development of the real world. The other reason I respect him is that he's very honest. Although people always label him with Structuation Theory or Third Way, he himself does not mention them any more. He says the world is changing fast and ideas may fall behind and need to revise or abandon. He thinks it is important for scholars to devote into society to check their ideas and revise from time to time. I can not agree with him in this respect any more.
He is really a great guy