His ideas have profoundly influenced the writing and teaching of sociology and social theory around the world. Frequently referred to as Tony Blair's guru, Giddens has made a strong impact on the evolution of New Labour. This is a completely amazing thing, because only about 10 to 12 years ago it was hard to get people to talk about it, to use the notion of globalization at all. And now only a decade later, everybody's using it. It's in the papers all the time.
Politicians talk about it.
Businessmen talk about it. The whole globalization debate has itself become globalized, and that shows you that this truly is a period of dramatic, intense change. When you get a notion which comes from nowhere and comes to be everywhere, it's obviously going to get debate about it, and there is a very intense debate, and there were two phases to that debate.