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Saskia Sassen

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Saskia Sassen
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Saskia Sassen

Saskia Sassen (born 1949 at The Hague, in The Netherlands) is an American sociologist and economist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She currently is professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, and at the London School of Economics. Sassen coined the term global city. She is married to the sociologist Richard Sennett.

Sassen grew up in Buenos Aires, where her parents moved in 1950. She also spent a part of her youth in Italy and says she was "brought up in five languages" [link]. From 1966, she spent a year each at the Université de Poitiers, France, the Università degli Studi di Roma, and the Universidad Nacional 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. After being a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, Sassen held various academic positions both in and outside the USA. She currently is Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, and Centennial Visiting Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Geography at the London School of Economics.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Sassen emerged as one of the most prolific authors on urban sociology. She studied the impact globalisation processes, and the movements of labour and capital which they involve, have on 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 one of the most frequently quoted authors 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 twelve languages.

Bibliography

:(Note: major works only appear below, and most-recent — for a full "Resource List" on this prolific and original thinker, including more complete bibliography, reviews, multimedia resources, and translations — into French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Hungarian... many languages... Sassen is widely-read... — see .)
"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..."
"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 growth of debt and unemployment, and the decline of traditional economic sectors, has fed an illegal trade in people..."
"...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."

See also

External links

 


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