Introduction
Professor Anthony Giddens stands among the most celebrated contemporary scholars. Born in a lower middle-class family, in London in 1938, he studied sociology and psychology at the University of Hull and gained post-graduate degrees from the London School of Economics & Political Science (MA thesis on “Sports and Society in Contemporary England”) and the University of Cambridge. In 1987, his promotion to a full professorship at Cambridge, where he taught sociology until 1996, marked his definitive entry in the higher academic spheres of Great Britain. Following the path of success, he then became the director of the LSE, at the head of which he stayed from 1996 to 2003.
Anthony Giddens is said to be the most quoted contemporary sociologist, which is not surprising given the importance of his intellectual production, as shown by the number of books he published since the early 1970’s (almost one a year). His academical work has developped into three main directions.
In the 1970's, Anthony Giddens started with a redefinition of the nature of sociology, defined as "the study of social institutions brought into being by the industrial transformation of the past two or three centuries". He came to this conclusion after having examined the works of the classics (Marx, Durkheim and Weber) in Capitalism and Modern Social Theory (1971), all these authors appearing to be concerned wih the link between capitalism and social life. He also endeavoured to define methodological rules for sociology to follow in New Rules of Sociological Method (1976).
Anthony Giddens then developed in Central Problems in Social Theory (1979) and The Constitution of Society (1984) his "theory of structuration", arguing that individual actions and social structure cannot be analysed separately since people make society but are at the same time constrained by it.
The 1990's were devoted to the impact of modernity on social and personal life, which Anthony Giddens analysed in Consequence of Modernity (1990), Modernity and Self-Identity (1991) and The Transformation of Intimacy (1992). Briefly put, Prof. Giddens argues that, since we live in a post-traditional order, self-identity become a "reflexive project", while intimate relationships have become "democratised", the bond between two people being a trusting bond based on emotional communication. He later on concentrated on globalisation (Global capitalism, 2000).
But Anthony Giddens is not just a mere prestigious academic: he can also be said to be "the power behind the throne”, Tony Blair occupying the latter. One year after the victory of the New Labour in 1997 and the subsequent accession of Tony Blair to the Prime Minister Office, Anthony Giddens published The Third Way. The Renewal of Social Democracy and helped to lead brain-storming seminars on the subject in Downing Street. This book was followed in 1999 by a joint statement released by T. Blair and G. Schroeder, commonly known as “the Third Way manifesto”, in which the Third Way is presented as a modernised social-democracy which, while retaining its traditional values, stands “not only for social justice but also for economic dynamism and the unleashing of creativiy and innovation”.
The closeness of Anthony Giddens to political power was officialised, so to speak, in June 2004, when he was given a life peerage as Baron Giddens, of Southgate in the London Borough of Enfield, thus allowing him to sit in the House of Lords for Labour.
A set of questions naturally arises from the intellectual relation between Anthony Giddens and Tony Blair, as well as theThird Way itself.
So profound the influence of the scholar on the politician has been that it has been said to be that of a “guru” on his “disciple”, Anthony Giddens having theorised the Third Way and Tony Blair having put it into practice. However commonly accepted this statement is, its validity must be assessed. Indeed, how faithful Tony Blair has been to Anthony Giddens ?
Besides, why the Third Way ? The answer to this question leads straight to one of the main characteristics of the Third Way, that is to say its declared pragmatism, as opposed to the ideology with which the two other ways, old school socialism and neo-liberalism, are said to be loaded. According to its proponents, the major changes which the world has been undergoing recently are calling for answers which ideologies are unable to give. They are dead-ends, thus making the Third Way necessary and to stand out as the only practicable way.
Being pragmatic, the Third Way puts forward solutions in order to cope with current issues. Yet, at the same time, these solutions cast a doubt on its very nature. Flexibility, adaptability, creativity and a new balance between risk and social security for both individuals and businesses and high performance for public services, along with devolution are the key-words of its programme, but not only. Indeed, they bear a strange resemblance with the values upheld by neo-liberalism itself.
Beyond these questions, it appears that both Anthony Giddens and Tony Blair have won from their relationship. On one hand, Anthony Giddens, as a reknowned scholar and the theoretician of the Third Way, has provided the Prime Minister and the New Labour with intellectual legitimacy, that is to say with a help that all political parties do not benefit. On the other hand, Anthony Giddens may have had the satisfaction to see his theory put into practice.