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] orlibertarian-conservative.[21] He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such asnational defense.[22]
Sowell was born in 1930 into a poor family inGastonia, North Carolina.[7][23] His father died shortly before he was born, leaving behind Sowell's mother, a housemaid who already had four children. A great-aunt and her two grown daughters adopted Sowell and raised him.[7] His mother died a few years later of complications while giving birth to another child.[24] In hisautobiographyA Personal Odyssey, Sowell wrote that his childhood encounters with white people were so limited that he did not know blond was a hair color.[25] He recalls that his first memories were living in a small wooden house inCharlotte, which he stated was typical of most black neighborhoods.[24] It was located on an unpaved street and had no electricity or running water.[24] When Sowell was nine, he moved with his extended family from North Carolina toHarlem, New York City. Family quarrels forced his aunt and him to room in other people's apartments.[24]
Sowell qualified forStuyvesant High School, a prestigious academic high school in New York City; he was the first in his family to study beyond the sixth grade. However, he was forced to drop out at age 17 because of financial difficulties and family quarreling.[7] He worked a number of odd jobs, including long hours at a machine shop, and as a delivery man forWestern Union.[26] He also tried out for theBrooklyn Dodgers in 1948.[27] Sowell wasdrafted into the armed services in 1951 during theKorean War and was assigned to theU.S. Marine Corps. Although Sowell opposed the war and experienced racism, he was able to find fulfillment as a photographer, which eventually became his favorite hobby.[7][24] He washonorably discharged in 1952.[24]
Sowell has said that he was aMarxist during his 20s.[11] One of his earliest professional publications was a sympathetic examination of Marxist thought vs.Marxist–Leninist practice.[32] But in 1960, he began to change his mind toward supportingfree-market economics after studying the possible impact ofminimum wages on unemployment of sugar-industry workers inPuerto Rico, as aU.S. Department of Labor intern. Workers at the department were surprised by his questioning, he said, and he concluded, "they certainly weren't going to engage in any scrutiny of the law".[22]
From 1965 to 1969, Sowell was anassistant professor of economics atCornell University. Writing 30 years later about the 1969 seizure ofWillard Straight Hall by black students at Cornell, Sowell characterized the students as "hoodlums" with "serious academic problems [who were] admitted under lower academic standards", and noted, "it so happens that the pervasive racism that black students supposedly encountered at every turn on campus and in town was not apparent to me during the four years that I taught at Cornell and lived inIthaca."[34]
Sowell has taught economics at Howard University,Rutgers, Cornell,Brandeis University,Amherst College, and theUniversity of California, Los Angeles.[28] At Howard, Sowell wrote, he was offered the position as head of the economics department, but he declined.[35] Since 1980, he has been asenior fellow of theHoover Institution atStanford University, where he holds a fellowship named afterRose andMilton Friedman, his mentor.[30][36] The Hoover appointment, because it did not involve teaching, gave him more time for his numerous writings.[12] In addition, Sowell appeared several times onWilliam F. Buckley Jr.'s showFiring Line, during which he discussed the economics of race andprivatization. Sowell has written that he gradually lost faith in the academic system, citing low academic standards and counterproductive university bureaucracy, and he resolved to leave teaching after his time at the University of California, Los Angeles.[35] InA Personal Odyssey, he recounts, "I had come to Amherst, basically, to find reasons to continue teaching. What I found, instead, were more reasons to abandon an academic career."[35]
In an interview, Sowell said he had been offered a position asFederal Trade Commissioner by theFord administration in 1976, but that after pursuing the opportunity, he withdrew from consideration to avoid the political games surrounding the position.[11] He said in another interview that he was offered the post ofUnited States Secretary of Education, but declined.[13] In 1980, after Reagan's election, Sowell and Henry Lucas organized the Black Alternatives Conference to bring together black and white conservatives; one attendee was a youngClarence Thomas, then a congressional aide.[37][38] Sowell was appointed as a member of the Economic Policy Advisory Committee of theReagan administration,[12] but resigned after the first meeting, disliking travel from the West Coast and lengthy discussions in Washington; of his decision to resign, Sowell cited "the opinion (and the example) of Milton Friedman, that some individuals can contribute more by staying out of government".[39]
In 1987, Sowell testified in favor of federal appeals court judgeRobert Bork during the hearings forBork's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In his testimony, Sowell said that Bork was "the most highly qualified nominee of this generation" and that what he viewed asjudicial activism, a concept that Bork opposed as a self-describedoriginalist andtextualist, "has not been beneficial to minorities."[40]
Sowell was a frequent guest onThe Rush Limbaugh Show, in conversations with Walter E. Williams, who was a substitute host for Limbaugh.[16]
On December 27, 2016, Sowell announced the end of his syndicated column, writing that, at age 86, "the question is not why I am quitting, but why I kept at it so long", and cited a desire to focus on his photography hobby.[15]
The TV showFree to Choose, distributed by theFree to Choose Network, features Sowell along with Milton Friedman and a number of other panelists as they discuss the relationship between freedom and individual economic choices.[50][51] A documentary detailing his career entitled "Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World" was released by the Free to Choose Network in 2021.[52][53]
Until the spring of1972, Sowell was a registeredDemocrat, after which he then left the Democratic Party and resolved not to associate with any political party again, stating, "I was so disgusted with both candidates that I didn't vote at all."[11] Though he is often described as ablack conservative, Sowell said, "I prefer not to have labels, but I suspect that 'libertarian' would suit me better than many others, although I disagree with the libertarian movement on a number of things."[22] He has been described as one of the most prominent advocates of contemporaryclassical liberalism along withFriedrich Hayek andLarry Arnhart.[54] Sowell primarily writes on economic subjects, generally advocating afree-market approach tocapitalism.[55] Sowell opposes theFederal Reserve, arguing that it has been unsuccessful in preventingeconomic depressions and limitinginflation.[56] Sowell described his study ofKarl Marx in his autobiography; as a former Marxist, who early in his career became disillusioned with it, he emphatically opposesMarxism, providing acritique in his bookMarxism: Philosophy and Economics (1985).
Sowell has also written a trilogy of books onideologies andpolitical positions, includingA Conflict of Visions, in which he speaks on the origins of political strife;The Vision of the Anointed, in which he compares theconservative/libertarian, andliberal/progressive worldviews; andThe Quest for Cosmic Justice, in which, as in many of his other writings, he outlines his thesis of the need felt byintellectuals,politicians, and leaders to fix and perfect the world inutopian and ultimately, he posits, disastrous fashions. Separate from the trilogy, but also in discussion of the subject, he wroteIntellectuals and Society, building on his earlier work, in which he discusses what he argues to be the blindhubris and follies of intellectuals in a variety of areas.
His bookKnowledge and Decisions, a winner of the 1980 Law and Economics Center Prize, was heralded as a "landmark work", selected for this prize "because of its cogent contribution to our understanding of the differences between the market process and the process of government". In announcing the award, the center acclaimed Sowell, whose "contribution to our understanding of the process of regulation alone would make the book important, but in reemphasizing the diversity and efficiency that the market makes possible, [his] work goes deeper and becomes even more significant."[57]Friedrich Hayek wrote: "In a wholly original manner, [Sowell] succeeds in translating abstract and theoretical argument into highly concrete and realistic discussion of the central problems of contemporary economic policy."[58]
Sowell opposes the imposition of minimum wages by governments, arguing in his bookBasic Economics, "Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they either lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force."[59] He goes further to argue that minimum wages disproportionately affect "members of racial or ethnic minority groups" that have been discriminated against. He asserts, "Before federal minimum-wage laws were instituted in the 1930s, the black unemployment rate was slightly lower than the white unemployment rate in 1930. But then followed theDavis-Bacon Act of 1931, theNational Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933, and theFair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 – all of which imposed government-mandated minimum wages, either on a particular sector or more broadly... By 1954, black unemployment rates were double those of whites and have continued to be at that level or higher. Those particularly hard hit by the resulting unemployment have been black teenaged males."[60]
Sowell has supportedconservative political positions on race, and is known for caustic, sarcastic criticism ofliberal black civil-rights figures.[62][5] Sowell has argued thatsystemic racism is an untested, questionable hypothesis, writing, "I don't think even the people who use it have any clear idea what they're saying", and compared it topropaganda tactics used byJoseph Goebbels because if it is "repeated long enough and loud enough", people "cave in" to it.[63][64]
In several of his works—includingThe Economics and Politics of Race (1983),Ethnic America (1981),Affirmative Action Around the World (2004), and other books—Sowell challenges the notion that black progress is due to progressive government programs or policies. He claims that many problems identified with black people in modern society are not unique, neither in terms of American ethnic groups, nor in terms of a ruralproletariat struggling with disruption as it becameurbanized, as discussed in hisBlack Rednecks and White Liberals (2005).[65] He is critical ofaffirmative action andrace-based quotas.[66][67]
When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.[68]
He takes issue with the notion of government as a helper or savior of minorities, arguing that the historical record shows the opposite. InAffirmative Action Around the World,[69] Sowell holds that affirmative action affects more groups than is commonly understood, though its impacts occur through different mechanisms, and has long since ceased to favor blacks.
One of the few policies that can be said to harm virtually every group in a different way. ... Obviously, whites and Asians lose out when you have preferential admission for black students or Hispanic students—but blacks and Hispanics lose out because what typically happens is the students who have all the credentials to succeed in college are admitted to colleges where the standards are so much higher that they fail.[70]
InIntellectuals and Race (2013), Sowell argues thatintelligence quotient (IQ) gaps are hardly startling or unusual between, or within,ethnic groups. He notes that the roughly 15-pointgap in contemporary black–white IQ scores is similar to that between the national average and the scores of certainethnic white groups in years past, in periods when the nation was absorbing new immigrants.[71]
Sowell's bookThe Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late was published in 2021. In it, Sowell discusses what he calls the "Einstein syndrome", which refers to the phenomenon oflate-talking children. Sowell says these children are frequently misdiagnosed withautism orpervasive developmental disorder. He includes the research of Stephen Camarata andSteven Pinker, among others. Sowell says this trait affected many historical figures who developed prominent careers, such as physicistsAlbert Einstein,Edward Teller, andRichard Feynman; mathematicianJulia Robinson; and musiciansArthur Rubinstein andClara Schumann. According to Sowell, some children develop unevenly (asynchronous development) for a period in childhood due to rapid and extraordinary development in the analytical functions of the brain. This may temporarily "rob resources" from neighboring functions such aslanguage development.[72][non-primary source needed]
Sowell was strongly critical ofRepublican presidential nomineeDonald Trump and grudgingly endorsedTed Cruz in the2016 Republican presidential primaries, criticizing him as well, stating, "we can only make our choices among those actually available."[77] During the 2016 Republican primary, Sowell criticized Trump, questioning whether Trump had "any principles at all, other than promoting Donald Trump?"[78] Two weeks before the2016 presidential election, Sowell recommended voting for Trump overHillary Clinton, because he would be "easier to impeach."[79] In 2018, when asked on his thoughts ofTrump's presidency, Sowell replied, "I think he's better than the previous president [Barack Obama]."[17] During interviews in 2019, Sowell defended Trump againstcharges of racism.[80][81]
In 2025, Sowell criticized Trump's"Liberation Day" tariffs, comparing them to the 1930Smoot-Hawley tariffs from the start of theGreat Depression. Sowell warned that the tariffs might set off a globaltrade war resulting in a "great reduction in international trade". He further cautioned that policy unpredictability might lead to peoplehanging on to their money, which would cause economic effects similar to those seen in the Great Depression.[82]
In 2020, Sowell wrote that if theDemocratic presidential nomineeJoe Biden won the2020 presidential election, it could signal a point of no return for the United States, a tipping point akin to thefall of the Roman Empire. In an interview in July 2020, he stated, "theRoman Empire overcame many problems in its long history, but eventually it reached a point where it could no longer continue, and much of that was from within, not just thebarbarians attacking from outside." Sowell wrote that if Biden became president, theDemocratic Party would have an enormous amount of control over the nation, and if this happened, they could twin with the "radical left" and ideas such asdefunding the police could come to fruition.[64][83]
Sowell has written about education throughout his career. He has argued for the need for reform of the school system in the United States. In his bookCharter Schools and Their Enemies (2020), Sowell compares the educational outcomes of school children educated atcharter schools with those at conventional public schools. In his research, Sowell first explains the need and his methodology for choosing comparable students—both ethnically and socioeconomically—before listing his findings. He presents the case that charter schools on the whole do significantly better in terms of educational outcomes than conventional schools.[84][85][86]
Sowell argues that many U.S. schools are failing children, contends that "indoctrination" has taken the place of proper education, and argues thatteachers' unions have promoted harmful education policies. Sowell contends that many schools have become monopolies for educational bureaucracies.[85]
In his bookEducation: Assumptions Versus History (1986), Sowell analyzes the state of education in U.S. schools and universities. In particular, he examines the experiences of blacks and other ethnic groups in the American education system, and identifies the factors and patterns behind both success and failure.[87]
Nathan J. Robinson stated that Sowell "is not given much attention by mainstream scholars in the academy, and few of his books are reviewed by major liberal-leaning publications."[106] He suggested this may be because "[h]is books rarely engage with the major academic literature on the subject he's writing about" and he often "leaves out crucial pieces of data that would make his position look weaker", citing his writing onminimum wage policy andunemployment as an example.[106] EconomistJames B. Stewart wrote a critical review ofBlack Rednecks and White Liberals, calling it "the latest salvo in Thomas Sowell's continuing crusade to represent allegedly dysfunctional value orientations and behavioral characteristics of African Americans as the principal reasons for persistent economic and social disparities." He also criticized it for downplaying the impact of slavery.[107] Particularly in black communities in the 1980s Sowell became, in historian Michael Ondaatje's words, "persona non grata, someone known to talkabout, rather than with, African Americans".[108] Economist Bernadette Chachere,[109] law professorRichard Thompson Ford,[110] and sociologistsWilliam Julius Wilson[111] and Richard Coughlin[112] have criticized some of his work.
Criticisms include neglecting discrimination againstwomen in the workforce inRhetoric or Reality?,[111] the methodology ofRace and Culture: A World View,[112] and portrayal of opposing theories inIntellectuals and Race.[110] EconomistJennifer Doleac criticizedDiscrimination and Disparities, arguing that statistical discrimination is real and pervasive (Sowell argues that existing racial disparities are mostly due to accurate sorting based on underlying characteristics, such as education) and that government intervention can achieve societal goals and make markets work more efficiently.[113] ColumnistSteven Pearlstein criticizedWealth, Poverty and Politics.[18]
^Sowell declined to be awarded the National Humanities Medal in person. JusticeClarence Thomas received it on his behalf on February 23, 2003.
^The article finds that "black economists who are most frequently cited are almost never economic theoreticians. Rather, they tend to be social commentators who write widely on issues of race."
^"Thomas Sowell".Hoover Institution.Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. RetrievedMarch 14, 2022.He writes on economics, history, social policy, ethnicity, and the history of ideas.
^abOndaatje, Michael L. (2010).Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 30–32.ISBN978-0812206876.OCLC794702292.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.
^abDillard, Angela D. (2001).Guess who's coming to dinner now? : multicultural conservatism in America. New York: New York University Press. pp. 6, 60.ISBN0814719392.OCLC45023496.
^Williams, Walter E. (2010).Up from the projects : an autobiography. Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press.ISBN978-0817912567.OCLC821216878.
^Robin, Corey (2019).The enigma of Clarence Thomas (First ed.). New York City: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company.ISBN978-1627793841.OCLC1121044511.
^abSowell, Thomas (December 27, 2016)."Farewell".Real Clear Politics.Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. RetrievedDecember 27, 2016.
^abcCarlisle, Rodney P. (2005).Encyclopedia of Politics : the left and the right. Thousand Oaks, California:Sage Publications. p. 876.ISBN978-1452265315.OCLC812407954.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.
^abcSawhill, Ray (November 10, 1999)."Black and right".Salon.com. Archived fromthe original on October 7, 2000.I prefer not to have labels, but I suspect that 'libertarian' would suit me better than many others, although I disagree with the libertarian movement on a number of things – military preparedness, for instance.
^abSowell, Thomas (May 3, 1999)."The Day Cornell Died".The Weekly Standard. Vol. 4, no. 31. Archived fromthe original on June 4, 2012. RetrievedJune 16, 2025.
^abcSowell, Thomas (2000).A Personal Odyssey. BasicBooks. p. 275.ISBN978-0684864648.
^Rueter, Theodore (1995).The politics of race : African Americans and the political system. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 97.ISBN131528636X.OCLC959428491.
^Sowell, Thomas (August 10, 2000)."Blacks and Bootstraps". Creators Syndicate. Archived fromthe original on October 26, 2000. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2022.
^"Quota 'logic'". Creators Syndicate. April 22, 2003. Archived fromthe original on June 4, 2003. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2022.
^Sowell, Thomas (February 16, 2016)."Tragedy and Choices". Creators Syndicate.Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2022.
^Sowell, Thomas (January 5, 2021)."A vote at the crossroads". Creators Syndicate.Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2022.
^Higgins, James (Spring 2001)."Tom Sowell in Practice and Theory".Claremont Review of Books. Vol. 1, no. 3.Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. RetrievedDecember 16, 2020. Higgins describes Sowell as having written a "brilliant trilogy on culture and societies (Race and Culture,Migrations and Culture, andConquests and Culture). [...] His stature must be attributed to his ability to bring light where there is darkness and logic where there is confusion to public policy in general and economics in particular."
^abPlaut, Steven (December 1, 1983)."Unconventional Truths".Commentary Magazine.Archived from the original on June 9, 2019. RetrievedDecember 20, 2015.
^Chachere, Bernadette P. (December 11, 2015). "The economics of Thomas Sowell: A critique of markets and minorities".The Review of Black Political Economy.12 (2):163–177.doi:10.1007/BF02873530.S2CID154870459.
^abFord, Richard Thompson (October 11, 2013)."The Simple Falsehoods of Race".The American Interest.Archived from the original on June 9, 2019. RetrievedDecember 21, 2015.
^abWilson, William Julius (June 24, 1984)."Hurting the Disadvantaged".The New York Times.Archived from the original on December 10, 2013. RetrievedAugust 20, 2025.
^abCoughlin, Richard M. (December 1995). "Book Reviews: Comparative Politics. "Race and Culture: A World View by Thomas Sowell"".American Political Science Review.89 (4):1064–1065.doi:10.2307/2082585.JSTOR2082585.S2CID147307339.
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