Theda Skocpol (born May 4, 1947) is an American sociologist and political scientist at Harvard University. She served from 2005 to 2007 as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She is influential in sociology as an advocate of the historical-institutional and comparative approaches, and well known in political science for her "state autonomy theory". Skocpol has written widely for both popular and academic audiences.
In 2007, Skocpol was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, one of the world's most prestigious prizes in political science. In 2002-3, Skocpol was president of the American Political Science Association.Continue Reading »
