The Canadian professor and essayist Michael Ignatieff joins the list of Princess of Asturias Awards 2024, which in this edition have already been won by Joan Manuel Serrat, Marjane Satrapi and Carolina Marín, who have won the Arts, Humanities and Sports awards, respectively. Throughout the history of the awards, the Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences It has fallen on historians, popularizers, economists and philosophers, among other personalities.

This year, in the 44th edition of the awards, a total of 36 candidates from 17 nationalities were eligible for this category. Beyond becoming part of the organization’s awards history, the winners receive a sculpture by Joan Miróa diploma, a badge and a cash prize of 50,000 euros.

Who has won this award in recent years

Last year the historian and teacher was awarded Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, who died before the ceremony, but did know that he would receive this award. Carrère began his career as a teacher History at Paris 1 University and in 1969 she joined as a professor and researcher at SciencePowhere he headed the department of Soviet Studies of the International Research Center and developed a large part of his career. Furthermore, she was a member of the French Academy, of which she was perpetual secretary, being the first woman to hold this positionas well as a MEP between 1994 and 1999.

A year before, the tribute was to Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, popularizer of the Mexican pre-Hispanic world with tours in Comalcalco, Tepeapulco, Bonampak, Teotihuacán, Cholula, Tula, Tlatelolco and Tenochtitlán. In 2021 it was for Amartya Senwho has focused his research on famines and the theory of human development, welfare economics and the underlying mechanisms of poverty, contributing “to the fight against injustice, inequality, disease and ignorance.”

The objective of this category is to recognize “the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanitarian work carried out at an international level by people, institutions or groups of people or institutions.” That is, it includes “creative and/or research work in the field of history, law, linguistics, education, political science, psychology, sociology, ethics, philosophy, geography, economics, demography or anthropology, as well as in the disciplines corresponding to each of these fields”.

The Princess Prize for Social Sciences

  • 2024: Michael Ignatieff
  • 2023: Hélène Carrère D’Encausse
  • 2022: Eduardo Matos Moctezuma
  • 2021: Amartya Sen
  • 2020: Dani Rodrik
  • 2019: Alejandro Portes
  • 2018: Michael J. Sandel
  • 2017: Karen Armstrong
  • 2016: Mary Beard
  • 2015: Esther Duflo
  • 2014: Joseph Perez
  • 2013: Saskia Sassen
  • 2012: Martha C. Nussbaum
  • 2011: Howard Gardner
  • 2010: Archaeological equipment of Terracotta warriors and horses from Qinshihuang Mausoleum in Xi’an
  • 2009: David Attenborough
  • 2008: Tzvetan Todorov
  • 2007: Ralf Dahrendorf
  • 2006:Mary Robinson
  • 2005: Giovanni Sartori
  • 2004: Paul Krugman
  • 2003: Jürgen Habermas
  • 2002:Anthony Giddens
  • 2001: The school of Mexico and Juan Iglesias Santo
  • 2000: Carlo Maria Martini
  • 1999: Raymond Car
  • 1998: Pierre Wagner and Jacques Santer
  • 1997: Martin de Riquer Morera
  • nineteen ninety six: John H. Elliot
  • nineteen ninety five: Joaquim Veríssimo and Miquel Batllori from Munné
  • 1994: Aurelio Menéndez Menéndez
  • 1993: Silvio Zavala
  • 1992: Juan Velarde Fuertes
  • 1991: Miguel Artola Gallego
  • 1990: Rodrigo Uría González
  • 1989: Enrique Fuentes Quintana
  • 1988: Luis Díez del Corral and Luis Sánchez Agesta
  • 1987: Juan José Linz
  • 1984: Eduardo García de Enterría
  • 1983: Julio Caro Baroja
  • 1982: Antonio Dominguez Ortiz
  • 1981: Roman Perpiñá Grau