Acknowledge to

Hello,

I am wondering about the usage of the phrase "acknowledge to" in the following passage:

"It alters everything. The dynamic in his marriage shifts. Or her marriage. An unpublished wife is one thing and a published wife quite another. The relationship with the children is conditioned by it. A new circle of friends is acquired. Yet as over time the author explores and grows into the position society so readily and generously acknowledges to the artist, embracing or rejecting the opportunity to play the moralist, or alternatively the rebel—but the two so often coincide—to be constantly visible, or to retreat into a provocative invisibility, there nevertheless remains one thing he or she must never do."

It seems to mean something along the lines of "bestow on" or "confer on." In one sense of the word to acknowledge something is to accept its legitimacy, so I interpret "to acknowledge sth to sb" as meaning "to accept that it is legitmate for sb to have sth" - in this case for the writer to have a particular status in society.  Yet somehow I am just unable to locate this precise definition on any of the dictionaries I am accustomed to consulting. Any idea on this?

Thank you.