Ensiksi mun on kyllä pakkko myöntää, että ennen maanantain luentoa, en muistaakseni ollut Giddensin nimeä kuullut. Joten ennen Giddensin töihin tutustumista, koin tarpeelliseksi etsiä itse Giddensistä jotain perustietoa.  Guardian tiivistikin mielestäni Giddensin profiilin aikas hyvin:

"Anthony Giddens is a Labour peer and the author or editor of 40 books translated into over 40 different languages. His first work, Capitalism and Modern Social Theory, has been continuously in print for more than three decades.


Several of his other books have become academic bestsellers. He has written the leading textbook in sociology, which has sold a million copies worldwide since it was first published in 1988. According to Google Scholar, he is the most widely cited sociologist in the world today.

Giddens popularised the notion of the third way in political thinking, and his advice has been sought by political leaders from Asia, Latin America and Australia, as well as from the US and Europe. He had a major impact upon the evolution of New Labour in the UK, and took part in the Blair-Clinton dialogues from 1997 onwards.

He was professor of sociology in the University of Cambridge until 1997, when he became director of the London School of Economics. In 2002 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for the social sciences, and he has been awarded 15 honorary degrees. He stepped down as Director of the London School of Economics in September 2003, and was made a member of the House of Lords in June 2004."


Lähde:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2007/jun/04/anthonygiddens

- Riikka