Albert O. Hirschman of the Institute for Advanced Study recognized for work on the roots of capitalism.
Albert O. Hirschman, professor emeritus in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, has been selected as winner of the American Political Science Association’s 2003 Benjamin E. Lippincott Award for "The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism Before Its Triumph" (Princeton University Press, 1977).
The award recognizes "a work of exceptional quality by a political theorist that is still considered significant after a time span of at least 15 years since the original date of publication."
The award will be presented when the association meets in Philadelphia on Aug. 28.
The book, reprinted in 1997 in a 20th anniversary edition, notes, "Hirschman here offers a new interpretation for the rise of capitalism, one that emphasizes the continuities between old and new, in contrast to the assumption of a sharp break that is a common feature of both Marxian and Weberian thinking. Among the insights presented here is the ironical finding that capitalism was originally supposed to accomplish exactly what was soon denounced as its worst feature: the repression of the passions in favor of the ‘harmless,’ if one-dimensional, interests of commercial life."
Professor Hirschman, a specialist in the political economy of development, joined the institute faculty in 1974, transferring to emeritus status in 1985. Before coming to the institute, he held positions at Harvard, Columbia and Yale universities, as well as institutions such as the Federal Reserve Board.
A graduate of the University of Berlin, he received diplomas from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and Institute de Statistique of the Sorbonne, and his doctorate in economics from the University of Trieste.
He is a recipient of awards from institutions worldwide. In 1998, he received the Thomas Jefferson Medal for distinguished achievement in the arts, humanities and the social sciences from the American Philosophical Society.
The Albert O. Hirschman Chair in Economics at the Institute for Advanced Study, instituted in 2000, honors Professor Hirschman’s achievements.