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Thomas Sowell (/soʊl/ SOHL; born June 30, 1930) is an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.[1][2] With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he is a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative.[3][4][5] He was a recipient of the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in 2002.[6][a]
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina, and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958.[7] He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968.[8] In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.[3][9][10] He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration,[11] and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration,[12] but declined both times.[11][13]
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers.[14][15] His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues;[4][16][17][18] libertarian, especially on economics;[16][19][20] or libertarian-conservative.[21] He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.[22]
- ^ "Thomas Sowell". Hoover Institution. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
He writes on economics, history, social policy, ethnicity, and the history of ideas.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:13was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Ondaatje, Michael L. (2010). Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 30–32. ISBN 978-0-8122-0687-6. OCLC 794702292.
Perched at the forefront of the new black vanguard and certainly its unofficial intellectual messiah since the mid-1970s, Sowell was the most prolific black conservative writer of the era.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
:8was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
:11was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Wiltz, Teresa (February 28, 2003). "Bush Honors Eight From the Humanities". The Washington Post.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
couragewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Ondaatje 2010, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Williams, Walter E. (2010). Up from the projects : an autobiography. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-8179-1256-7. OCLC 821216878. Archived from the original on January 20, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
- ^ Robin, Corey (2019). The enigma of Clarence Thomas (First ed.). New York City. ISBN 978-1-62779-384-1. OCLC 1121044511.
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C-SPAN Q&Awas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Ondaatje 2010, p. 32.
- ^ "Thomas Sowell". Charlie Rose. September 15, 1995. Event occurs at 5:50. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ "Thomas Sowell". The National Endowment for the Humanities. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
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:4was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Carlisle, Rodney P. (2005). Encyclopedia of Politics : the left and the right. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. p. 876. ISBN 978-1-4522-6531-5. OCLC 812407954.
He is a libertarian on economics and a conservative on most social issues, but he has registered as an independent in politics since 1972.... Limbaugh's listeners enjoy listening in as Williams and Sowell discuss the free market and traditional social values.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:7was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
PostWealthPovertywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Younkins, Edward W. (August 15, 2002). Capitalism and Commerce: Conceptual Foundations of Free Enterprise. Lexington Books. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-7391-5280-5. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
- ^ Zwolinski, Matt; Ferguson, Benjamin (2022). The Routledge Companion to Libertarianism. Routledge. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-000-56922-3. Archived from the original on January 20, 2023. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
- ^ Harvey, Robert S.; Gonzowitz, Susan (2022). Teaching as Protest: Emancipating Classrooms Through Racial Consciousness. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-000-54060-4. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
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