Theda Skocpol
Theda Skocpol | |
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Detroit, Michigan , U.S. | |
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Awards | Barrington Moore, Jr.[1] |
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Institutions | Harvard University |
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Theda Skocpol (née Barron; May 4, 1947) is an American sociologist and political scientist, who is currently the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. She is best known as an advocate of the historical-institutional and comparative approaches, as well as her "state autonomy theory". She has written widely for both popular and academic audiences. She has been President of the American Political Science Association and the Social Science History Association.[5]
In historical sociology, Skocpol's works and opinions have been associated with the structuralist school. As an example, she argues that social revolutions can best be explained given their relation with specific structures of agricultural societies and their respective states. Such an approach differs greatly from more "behaviorist" ones, which tend to emphasize the role of "revolutionary populations", "revolutionary psychology", and/or "revolutionary consciousness", as determinant factors of revolutionary processes.
Her 1979 book States and Social Revolutions was influential in research on revolutions.[6]
Biography
Theda Skocpol was born in
From 1975 to 1981, Skocpol served as an assistant and associate professor of sociology, at Harvard. During this time, Skocpol published her first of many books, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of Social Revolutions in Russia, France and China (1979). Some of her subsequent work focused on methodology and theory, including the co-edited volume Bringing the State Back In, which heralded a new focus by social scientists on the state as an agent of social and political change.
In 1981, Skocpol moved on to work at the University of Chicago. For the next five years, Skocpol would serve as an Associate Professor of Sociology and Political Science, and of Social Science, Professor of Sociology and Political Science, and Director for the Center for the Study of Industrial Societies.[9]
In the early 1980s, Skocpol publicly alleged that Harvard University had denied her tenure (1980) because she was a woman. This charge was found to be justified by an internal review committee in 1981.[10] In 1984, Harvard University offered Skocpol a tenured position (its first ever for a female sociologist), which she accepted.
From 1986 to the present, Skocpol has held various positions at Harvard University including: Professor of Sociology; Director for the Center for American Political Studies; Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; and presently[when?] is the Professor of Government and of Sociology, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology.
Honors and titles
Throughout her career, Skocpol has held many positions at various academic, and professional organizations, some of which include: president of Politics and History Section, chairperson, and later Council member of the
According to her Curriculum Vitae Skocpol has been distinguished by over twenty awards and honors, some of which are: C. Wright Mills Award of
In 2007, she was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, one of the world's most prestigious prizes in political science for her "visionary analysis of the significance of the state for revolutions, welfare, and political trust, pursued with theoretical depth and empirical evidence."[12][13]
In 2015, she was named an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University (term: 2015–2021).
In October 2019 Skocpol was awarded with an honorary doctorate from
Major works and contributions
States and Social Revolutions (1979)
Skocpol's most famous book, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of Social Revolutions in
In her text, Skocpol "offers a framework of reference for analyzing social-revolutionary transformations in modern world history" and discusses and compares the causes of the French Revolution of 1787–1800, the Russian Revolution of 1917–1921, and the Chinese Revolution of 1911–1949.
According to Skocpol, there are two stages to social revolutions: a crisis of state and the emergence of a dominant class to take advantage of a revolutionary situation. The crisis of state emerges from poor economy, natural disaster, food shortage, or security concerns. Leaders of the revolution also have to face these constraints, and their handling of them affects how well they re-establish the state.
Skocpol uses Marxism's class struggle to assert that the main causes of social unrest are state social structures, international competitive pressures, international demonstrations, and class relations. Critics suggest that Skocpol ignores the role of individuals and ideology[14] and uses varied comparative methodological strategies.
State autonomy theory
Before she wrote Protecting Soldiers and Mothers, Skocpol first devised what she termed state autonomy theory. This theory underlined the idea that state bureaucracies could have the potential for autonomous operations, and that this potential was ignored by scientists who were focused on society-centric studies. Skocpol considers the idea that parties are more important in America than the government, and that class dominance plays heavily into American politics.[15]
Protecting Soldiers and Mothers (1992)
In this book, Skocpol shows, contrary to the conventional wisdom, that the United States was a precocious welfare state in the early 20th century and that it did not lag behind European states at that point in time.[16]
In the book, Skocpol considers increased benefits for Civil War veterans and their families resulting from competitive party politics, as well as greater actions taken in women's movements. Soldiers and mothers benefited from social spending, labor regulations, and health education through reformative women's clubs across the nation. Simultaneously, Skocpol refutes her claim that theorists had ignored states' independent power in her state autonomy theory, explaining "my state-centered theoretical frame of reference had evolved into a fully 'polity-centered approach,' meaning that social movements, coalitions of pressure groups, and political parties must be given their due in understanding power in America."
Skocpol explains how clubs and associations fill the vacuum left by fewer bureaucracies and an official church throughout the country, offering a case study in how women succeeded in gaining labor rights, mothers' pensions, minimum wage, and subsidized natal health clinics. Further, Skocpol points out that women were able to overcome class disparity to achieve these goals, working at a national level, influencing representatives with books, TV, magazines, and meetings.[17]
Diminished Democracy (2003)
Diminished Democracy discusses the changes in US public involvement and its recent concerning decline. Skocpol talks about how to reverse it in explaining how the U.S. became a civic nation, the organizers of that movement, management of civic organizations, changes in them, the harmful effects of that change, and how to recreate a sense of citizenship.
Since fewer and fewer Americans join voluntary groups that meet frequently, there has been a proliferation of nonprofit groups led by elites who can interact with the government, but not the people. Skocpol provokes the reader with the idea that civic involvement will one day become another job rather than a civilian responsibility.
Scholars Strategy Network
In 2009, Skocpol conceived of and co-founded the
Personal life
In 1967, while studying at Michigan State University, she married Bill Skocpol. They were both students at Michigan State, with Bill a physics major from Texas. They had met through a Methodist organization for students.[5] Her last name is sometimes quoted as Skočpol. She has one son, Michael Skocpol, an attorney and former law clerk for Sonia Sotomayor.
She is also an avid
Publications
Books
- Skocpol, Theda (1979). ISBN 978-0-521-29499-7.
- Skocpol, Theda (1992). Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States. ISBN 978-0-674-71765-7.
- Skocpol, Theda (1994). Social Revolutions in the Modern World. Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics. ISBN 978-0-521-40938-4.
- Skocpol, Theda (1995). Social Policy in the United States: Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective. ISBN 978-0-691-03785-1.
- Finegold, Kenneth; Skocpol, Theda (1995). State and Party in America's New Deal. ISBN 978-0-299-14764-8.
- Skocpol, Theda (1996). Boomerang: Clinton's Health Security Effort and the Turn Against Government in U.S. Politics. ISBN 978-0-393-03970-2.
- Skocpol, Theda (1997). Boomerang: Health Reform and the Turn Against Government. ISBN 978-0-393-31572-1.
- Skocpol, Theda (2000). The Missing Middle: Working Families and the Future of American Social Policy. ISBN 978-0-393-32113-5.
- Skocpol, Theda (2003). Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life. The Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture Series. Vol. 8. ISBN 978-0-8061-5017-8.
- Skocpol, Theda; Liazos, Ariane; ISBN 978-0-691-12299-1.
- Skocpol, Theda; ISBN 978-0-674-07164-3.
- Skocpol, Theda; Williamson, Vanessa (2012). The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. ISBN 978-0-19-983263-7.
- Skocpol, Theda; Newman, Lainey (2023). Rust Belt Union Blues: Why Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away from the Democratic Party. ISBN 978-0-23-120882-6.
Edited volumes
- ISBN 978-0-226-08040-6.
- Skocpol, Theda, ed. (1984). Vision and Method in Historical Sociology. ISBN 978-0-521-29724-0.
- ISBN 978-1-107-71713-8.
- ISBN 978-0-691-09436-6.
- American Society and Politics: Institutional, Historical, and Theoretical Perspectives (with John L. Campbell), McGraw-Hill (New York), 1995.
- States, Social Knowledge, and the Origins of Modern Social Policies (with Dietrich Rueschemeyer), Princeton University Press, 1996.
- The New Majority: Toward a Popular Progressive Politics (with Stan Greenberg), Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1997.
- Democracy, Revolution, and History (with George Ross, Tony Smith, and Judith Eisenberg Vichniac), Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1998.
- Civic Engagement in American Democracy (with Morris P. Fiorina), Brookings Institution Press (Washington, DC)/Russell Sage Foundation (New York City), 1999.
- The Transformation of American Politics: Activist Government and the Rise of Conservatism (with Paul Pierson), Princeton University Press, 2007.
- Reaching for a New Deal: Ambitious Governance, Economic Meltdown, and Polarized Politics in Obama's First Two Years (with Lawrence R. Jacobs, Russell Sage Foundation (New York), 2011.
- Upending American Politics: Polarizing Parties, Ideological Elites, and Citizen Activists from the Tea Party to the Anti-Trump Resistance (with Caroline Tervo), Oxford University Press (New York), 2020.
Select articles
- A Critical Review of Barrington Moore's Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Politics and Society, 4(1), pp. 1–34
- Review article: "Cultural Idioms and Political Ideologies in the Revolutionary Reconstruction of State Power: A Rejoinder to Sewell," The Journal of Modern History Vol. 57, No. 1, March 1985
Further reading
- Interview by Richard Snyder: "Theda Skocpol: states, revolutions, and the comparative historical imagination," pp. 649–708, in Gerardo L. Munck and Richard Snyder, Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative Politics (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).
- Utter, Glenn H. and Charles Lockhart, eds. American Political Scientists: A Dictionary (2nd ed. 2002) pp 373–75, online.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-521-29499-7.
- OCLC 22176348.
- OCLC 77071181.
- OCLC 435388161.
- ^ ISSN 1094-2939.
- S2CID 53669466.
- ISBN 978-0-387-93994-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8018-8464-1.
- ^ Skocpol, Theda. "Theda Skocpol" (PDF). Harvard University. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ "A QUESTION OF SEX BIAS AT HARVARD". The New York Times. October 18, 1981. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ^ "Theda Skocpol". sociology.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
- ^ "Theda Skocpol". Theda Skocpol. Harvard University. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
- ^ "SvD: Skocpol går till botten med staten". Svenska Dagbladet. September 29, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Wikisum. "States and Social Revolutions". Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ Skocpol, Theda, Peter Evans, and Dietrich Rueschemeyer. "Bringing the state back in." Cambridge (1999).
- ISBN 978-0-8018-8464-1.
- ^ Domhoff, G. William (September 2005). "The Death of State Autonomy Theory: A Critique of Skocpol's Protecting Soldiers And Mothers". Who Rules America.
- ^ "The Politics of Climate Change Legislation". Harvard Magazine. February 15, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ "Citizen Scholars". Harvard Magazine. August 15, 2014. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ "skocpol.theda | Scholars Strategy Network". scholars.org. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ "Talking Patriots with Harvard political scientist and superfan Theda Skocpol". January 17, 2019.
- ^ "Turkey Attack Leaves Mail Carrier With Broken Hip". April 3, 2023.
External links
- Arena Profile: Theda Skocpol. Politico. http://www.politico.com/arena/bio/theda_skocpol.html
- Klein, Ezra. Theda Skocpol on how political scientists think differently about politics. The Ezra Klein Show Podcast. https://web.archive.org/web/20160419092748/http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/panoply/the-ezra-klein-show/e/theda-skocpol-on-how-political-scientists-think-differently-about-42895494
- Theda Skocpol - Harvard University. http://scholar.harvard.edu/thedaskocpol/publications
- Theda Skocpol - Biographical Note. Harvard University. http://scholar.harvard.edu/thedaskocpol/biocv
- Theda Skocpol - Curriculum Vitae. Harvard University. http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/thedaskocpol/files/skocpol_cv_2009.pdf?m=1360044018 Archived August 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005. [1]
- The Crimson. "Denied Tenure" May 6, 2005
- Harvard Sociology Department Home Page
- Harvard Government Department Home Page
- Crimson
- Critique on Protecting Soldiers and Mothers
- Harvard Bio
- States and Social Revolutions Archived September 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Why Men Rebel Archived August 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Wikipedia States and Social Revolutions
- Diminished Democracy
- Who Rules America
- About Skocpol
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Cornell University Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large Biography