Saskia Sassen
Encyclopedia
Saskia Sassen is a Dutch
sociologist
noted for her analyses of globalization
and international human migration
. She is currently Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University
and Centennial visiting Professor at the London School of Economics
. Sassen coined the term global city
. She is married to the sociologist Richard Sennett
.
, Argentina
, where her parents Willem Sassen
and Miep van der Voort moved in 1950. She also spent a part of her youth in Italy
and says she was "brought up in five languages
."
, France
, the Università degli Studi di Roma, and the Universidad de Buenos Aires, for studies in philosophy
and political science
. From 1969, Sassen studied sociology and economics at the University of Notre Dame
, Indiana
, where she obtained M.A.
and Ph.D.
degrees in 1971 and 1974, respectively. In addition, she obtained a French master's degree in philosophy in Poitiers in 1974. In January 2004, Sassen received the honoris causa degree in urbanism at Delft University of Technology
.
, Sassen held various academic positions both in and outside the USA, such as the Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago
. She is currently Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University
and Centennial Visiting Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics
.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Sassen emerged as a prolific author in urban sociology
. She studied the impacts of globalisation such as economic restructuring
, and how the movements of labour and capital influence urban life. She also studied the influence of communication technology on governance. Sassen observed how nation states begin to lose power to control these developments, and she studied increasing general transnationalism
, including transnational
human migration
. She identified and described the phenomenon of the global city. Her 1991 book bearing this title quickly made her a frequently quoted author on globalisation worldwide. A revised and updated edition of her book was published in 2001. She currently (2006) is pursuing her research and writing on immigration and globalization, with her "denationalization" and "transnationalism" projects (see Bibliography and External Links, below). Sassen's books have been translated into 21 languages.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
noted for her analyses of globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and international human migration
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
. She is currently Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Centennial visiting Professor at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. Sassen coined the term global city
Global city
A global city is a city that is deemed to be an important node in the global economic system...
. She is married to the sociologist Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett
Richard Sennett is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University...
.
Family and early life
Sassen grew up in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, where her parents Willem Sassen
Willem Sassen
Wilhelmus Antonius Sassen was a Dutch collaborator, Nazi journalist and a member of the Waffen-SS, where he had the rank of Untersturmführer corresponding to lieutenant. He became widely known around 1960 as the interviewer of Adolf Eichmann.- Private biography, family :Willem Sassen was born in...
and Miep van der Voort moved in 1950. She also spent a part of her youth in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and says she was "brought up in five languages
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
."
Education
From 1966, Sassen spent a year each at the Université de PoitiersUniversity of Poitiers
The University of Poitiers is a university in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group.-History:Founded in 1431 by Pope Eugene IV and chartered by King Charles VII, the University of Poitiers was originally composed of five faculties: theology, canon law, civil law, medicine, and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Università degli Studi di Roma, and the Universidad de Buenos Aires, for studies in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. From 1969, Sassen studied sociology and economics at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, where she obtained M.A.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degrees in 1971 and 1974, respectively. In addition, she obtained a French master's degree in philosophy in Poitiers in 1974. In January 2004, Sassen received the honoris causa degree in urbanism at Delft University of Technology
TU Delft Faculty of Architecture
The Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft is the largest faculty of the university and one of the largest architecture schools in the world, with around 2'900 students.The Faculty is offering the following degrees:* Bachelor of Science in Architecture...
.
Academic posts
After being a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Sassen held various academic positions both in and outside the USA, such as the Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. She is currently Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Centennial Visiting Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Sociology at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Sassen emerged as a prolific author in urban sociology
Urban sociology
Urban sociology is the sociological study of social life and human interaction in metropolitan areas. It is a normative discipline of sociology seeking to study the structures, processes, changes and problems of an urban area and by doing so providing inputs for planning and policy making. Like...
. She studied the impacts of globalisation such as economic restructuring
Economic restructuring
Economic restructuring refers to the phenomenon of Western urban areas shifting from a manufacturing to a service sector economic base. This transformation has affected demographics including income distribution, employment, and social hierarchy; institutional arrangements including the growth of...
, and how the movements of labour and capital influence urban life. She also studied the influence of communication technology on governance. Sassen observed how nation states begin to lose power to control these developments, and she studied increasing general transnationalism
Transnationalism
Transnationalism is a social movement and scholarly research agenda grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding economic and social significance of boundaries among nation states....
, including transnational
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
human migration
Human migration
Human migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
. She identified and described the phenomenon of the global city. Her 1991 book bearing this title quickly made her a frequently quoted author on globalisation worldwide. A revised and updated edition of her book was published in 2001. She currently (2006) is pursuing her research and writing on immigration and globalization, with her "denationalization" and "transnationalism" projects (see Bibliography and External Links, below). Sassen's books have been translated into 21 languages.
Authored books
- Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages (Princeton: Princeton University Press, May 2006) ISBN 0-691-09538-8. Awards for TAR: Winner of the 2007, Distinguished Book Award, Political Economy of the World-System Section, by ASA; Winner of the 2007 Robert Jervis and Paul Schroeder Best Book Award, International History and Politics section, by APSA
- Elements for a Sociology of Globalization [or A Sociology of Globalization] (W.W. Norton, 2007) ISBN 0-393-92726-1.
- Cities in a world economy (Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Pine Forge Press, 2006) updated 3rd ed., original 1994; Series: Sociology for a new century, ISBN 1-4129-3680-2.
- The global cityGlobal cityA global city is a city that is deemed to be an important node in the global economic system...
: New York, London, Tokyo (Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2001) updated 2d ed., original 1991; ISBN 0-691-07063-6.
- Guests and aliens (New York: New Press, 1999) ISBN 1-56584-608-7.
- Globalization and its discontents. Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money (New York: New Press, 1998), ISBN 1-56584-518-8.
- Losing control? Sovereignty in An Age of Globalization (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996) Series : University seminars — Leonard Hastings Schoff memorial lectures, ISBN 0-231-10608-4.
- The Mobility of Labor and Capital. A Study in International Investment and Labor Flow (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) ISBN 0-521-38672-1.
- The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991) 1st ed. ISBN 0-691-07063-6.
Edited books
- Digital Formations: IT and New Architectures in the Global Realm, eds. Robert Latham and Saskia Sassen (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005) ISBN 0-691-11986-4, ISBN 0-691-11987-2.
- Global networks, linked cities, ed. Saskia Sassen (New York : Routledge, 2002) ISBN 0-415-93162-2, ISBN 0-415-93163-0.
Book chapters
- "Electronic markets and activist networks: The weight of social logics in digital formations", in Digital Formations: IT and New Architectures in the Global Realm, eds. Robert Latham and Saskia Sassen (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005) ISBN 0-691-11986-4, ISBN 0-691-11987-2, p. 54-88.
- "Beyond sovereignty: de facto transnationalism in immigration policy", in eds. Friedmann, Jonathan and Randeria, Shalini, Worlds on the move : globalization, migration, and cultural security (London ; New York : Tauris 2004) xix, 372 p., 24 см, Series : Toda institute book series on global peace and policy 6, ISBN 1-86064-951-3.
- "Mediating practices : women with/in cyberspace", in eds. John Armitage and Joanne Roberts, Living with cyberspace : technology & society in the 21st century (London : Athlone ; New York : Continuum, 2002) viii, 203 p., ISBN 0-485-00444-5, ISBN 0-485-00636-7, ISBN 0-8264-6035-6, ISBN 0-8264-6036-4.
Articles
- "How Population Lies : True, big cities no longer draw big numbers. But that doesn't mean their power is slipping too.", Newsweek International, July 3–10, 2006.
- "Migration policy: from control to governance : In the United States and Europe alike, immigration policy isn't working -- and the failure is most evident at the crossing-points of the rich and poor worlds, from the Mexican border to the Canary Islands.", Open Democracy (July 13, 2006).
- "The repositioning of citizenship and alienage: Emergent subjects and spaces for politics", Globalizations, volume 2, number 1, (2005), p. 79-94.
- "Regulating Immigration in a Global Age: A New Policy Landscape", Parallax, volume 11, number 1 (2005), p. 35-45.
- "Comment: We seem to have forgotten history", The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(February 26, 2004).
- "Going Beyond the National State in the USA: The Politics of Minoritized Groups in Global Cities", DiogenesDiogenesDiogenes is a Greek name shared by several important historical figures:*Diogenes of Sinope , better known as Diogenes the Cynic or simply Diogenes, philosopher...
, volume 51, number 3 (2004), p. 59-65.
- "The new lords of Africa", in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
July 9, 2003; ; also in Peacework, volume 30, number 338, September 2003, p20-21, ISSN 0748-0725.
- " "A message from the global south," (Special report: Terrorism in the US), The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(September 12, 2001).
- "Special report: refugees in Britain — Unstoppable immigrants", in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
(September 12, 2000).
- "Home truths: The notion that the west is threatened with mass invasions of immigrants is a myth," (Refugees in Britain: special report), The Guardian (Saturday April 15, 2000).
- "Women's burden : counter-geographies of globalization and the feminization of survival", Journal of international affairs, [New York], volume 53, number 2, p. 504-524 (2000), ISSN 0022-197X.
- Cities : between global actors and local conditions (College Park, MD. : Urban Studies and Planning Program, University of Maryland, c1999) "The 1997 Lefrak monograph".
- "Beyond Sovereignty: De-Facto Transnationalism in Immigration Policy", in European Journal of Migration and Law, volume 1, p. 177-198, 1999; also published as The De-facto Transnationalizing of Immigration Policy (Florence: Robert Schuman Centre at the European University InstituteEuropean University InstituteThe European University Institute ' in Florence is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute established by European Union member states to contribute to cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, in a European perspective...
, 1996).
- "Global financial centers", in Foreign affairs, [New York], volume 78, number 1, p. 75-87 (1999), ISSN 0015-7120.
- The De-facto Transnationalizing of Immigration Policy (Florence: Robert Schuman Centre at the European University InstituteEuropean University InstituteThe European University Institute ' in Florence is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute established by European Union member states to contribute to cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, in a European perspective...
, 1996); [also published as "Beyond Sovereignty: De-Facto Transnationalism in Immigration Policy", in European Journal of Migration and Law, volume 1, 1999, p. 177-198.]
- Transnational economies and national migration policies (Amsterdam : Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, University of Amsterdam, 1996), ISBN 90-5589-038-3.
- "Analytic borderlands : race, gender and representation in the new city", in ed. King, Anthony D., Re-presenting the city : ethnicity, capital, and culture in the 21st-century metropolis (New York : New York University Press, 1996) p. 183-202, ISBN 0-8147-4678-0, ISBN 0-8147-4679-9.
- [with Morita, Kiriro], "The New illegal immigration in Japan 1980-1992", in The international migration review (New York : Center for Migration Studies, 1994), volume 28, number 1, p. 153-163, ISSN 0197-9183.
- [with Smith, Robert] Post-industrial employment and third world immigration : casualization and the New Mexican migration in New York (New York, N.Y. : Columbia University, Institute of Latin American and Iberian Studies, 1991) Series : Papers on Latin America #26.
- New York City's informal economy (Los Angeles, Calif. : University of California Los Angeles, Institute for Social Science Research, [1988?]) Series : ISSR working papers in the social sciences, 1988–89, volume 4, number 9.
Dissertations
- [as Sassen-Koob, Saskia] Non-dominant ethnic populations as a possible component of the U.S. political economy : the case of blacks and Chicanos (Dissertation, Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, 1974).
- [as Sassen-Koob, Saskia] Social stratification, ethnicity and ideology : Anglos and Chicanos in the United States (Thesis, M.A., University of Notre Dame, 1971).
Interviews
- A Theory Talk with Saskia Sassen, Theory Talks, September 6, 2011
- "The ideas interview: Saskia Sassen -- John Sutherland meets a social scientist who argues that we need to understand the full complexities and dangers of globalisation.", The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, July 4, 2006. - Keynote speaker at 2008 Metropolis Congress in Sydney October 2008. Sassen will address world mayors and industry leaders with her research on the increasing significance of connected relationships between cities in the 21st Century.
- "Redirected power and capital as forces for change": Keynote speaker at the 2nd International Holcim Forum for Sustainable Construction – "Urban_Trans_Formation" (Tongji University, Shanghai – April 18-21, 2007), 2nd Day: Friday, April 20, 2007.
See also
- GlobalizationGlobalizationGlobalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
- Human migrationHuman migrationHuman migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
- International tradeInternational tradeInternational trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
- Nation states
- Rural depopulation
- SociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
- TransnationalTransnationalTransnational may mean:* International* Multinational* Transnationality* Transnational Organization* Transnational governance* Transnational marriage* Transnational organized crime* Transnational crime* Transnational feminism...
- TransnationalismTransnationalismTransnationalism is a social movement and scholarly research agenda grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding economic and social significance of boundaries among nation states....
- UrbanizationUrbanizationUrbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
External links
- Personal Website
- Sassen's page at the London School of Economics
- Member Profile, Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University
- The Transnationalism Project, University of Chicago
- Downloadable PDFs of Sassen's papers at the University of Chicago's Transnationalism project website
- Work and the global economy Sep 2 2002, Chicago Public Radio
- Immigration Policy May 8 2002, Chicago Public Radio
- Globalization & World Cities, site at Loughborough University UK, founded by Peter Hall, Sassen, and Nigel Thrift
- Guantánamo in Germany (with Richard Sennett) in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 21 August 2007 (concerning arrest of German sociologist charged of being "mastermind" of the Militante gruppe) - 2008 Metropolis Congress Sydney
- Saskia on divulge, Saskia Sassen at UnboundUnboundUnbound is the third album of the Swedish death metal band Merciless. It was released in 1994. The cover artwork is created by Kristian Wåhlin.-Track listing:# "Unbound" # "The Land I Used to Walk" # "Feebleminded"...
- "Comment: We seem to have forgotten history", The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, February 26, 2004.
- "What happens when we look at the history of immigration for clues about what is a constraint and what is a possibility? Historical demography shows us that all European societies have incorporated foreign immigrant groups and that it has often taken no more than a few generations to turn them into a community that can experience solidarity..."
- "Special report: Terrorism in the US — A message from the global south", in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, September 12, 2001.
- "Special report: Terrorism in the US — A message from the global south", in The Guardian
- "Yesterday's attack brings home the fact that we cannot hide behind our peace and prosperity. The evidence has been growing but our leaders did not want to see it. The horrors of wars and deaths far away in the global south do not register. But missile shields cannot protect us. Powerful states cannot fully escape bricolage terrorism, nail bombs, elementary nuclear devices, and homemade biological weapons.
- "The attacks are a language of last resort: the oppressed and persecuted have used many languages to reach us so far, but we seem unable to translate the meaning. So a few have taken the personal responsibility to speak in a language that needs no translation.
- "The growth of debt and unemployment, and the decline of traditional economic sectors, has fed an illegal trade in people..."
- "Special report: refugees in Britain — Unstoppable immigrants", in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, September 12, 2000.
- "Special report: refugees in Britain — Unstoppable immigrants", in The Guardian
- "...the debate about whether or not to allow the entry of foreign hi-tech workers is but one element of a far broader and more fundamental reconfiguring of specialised labour markets under the impact of economic globalisation."