Seymour Lipset

Seymour Lipset    (sociologist, academic, neocon)
Born	March 18, 1922 Harlem, New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	December 31, 2006 (Age 84) Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	City College of New York, Columbia University
Religion	Jewish
Member of	American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, Committee for the Free World, Committee on the Present Danger/Members
US neoconservative sociologist who attended the 1970 Bilderberg conference, and was a member of several intelligence-connected groups such as the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, Committee for the Free World and Committee on the Present Danger.  Senior Fellow In office 1990 - 2006 Employer Hoover Institution Preceded by Seymour Lipset, Robert Scalapino Succeeded by Louise Fresco, Salome Zourabichvili  Professor In office 1979 - 1990 Employer Stanford University Preceded by Georges Vedel Succeeded by Seymour Lipset

Seymour Martin Lipset was an American sociologist. A socialist in his early life, Lipset later moved to the right, and was one of the first intellectuals to be called neoconservative.

He attended the 1970 Bilderberg conference, and was a member of several neoconservative intelligence-connected groups such as the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya, Committee for the Free World and Committee on the Present Danger.

Background

Lipset was born in Harlem, New York City to Russian Jewish immigrants. He graduated from the City College of New York, where he was on the Trotskyist left. He belonged to the youth wing of the Socialist Party of America, the Trotskyist Young People's Socialist League, of which he eventually became chairman. He received his doctorate in sociology from Columbia University in 1949. Lipset left the Socialist Party in 1960 and joined the Democratic Party , where he became active on the right wing. He became "one of the first intellectuals to neoconservatives."

Lipset was a professor at Stanford University (1979–90), Harvard University, and George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He was a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University at the time of his death.

Research

Seymour Martin Lipset's main research areas were political sociology, trade unions, public opinion, social stratification and comparative democracy research.

In 1967, together with Stein Rokkan, he established the cleavage theory, which is important for party research. In this context, he coined the term extremism of the centre.

The connection between prosperity and democracy that he demonstrated is called the "Lipset thesis": With increasing prosperity in a society, the chances that democracy will be maintained increase, "that the more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy".

memberships

He was a longtime adviser to the Council of Jewish Federations (later the United Jewish Communities), was on the Faculty Advisory Committee of the United Jewish Appeal, and was a vocal supporter of Israel.

Lipset was a member of numerous scholarly societies such as the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1962), and the National Academy of Education. As the only scientist to date, Lipset was President of both the American Political Science Association (1979-80) and the American Sociological Association (1992-93). He was also affiliated with the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and the Progressive Policy Institute.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1970	17 April 1970	19 April 1970	Switzerland Hotel Quellenhof Bad Ragaz	the 19th Bilderberg meeting, in Switzerland.

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