Theda Skocpol in Conversation with Edwin Amenta on Sociology, Political Science, Higher Education, and U.S. Politics

In this interview, Theda Skocpol discusses with her former student Edwin Amenta issues ranging from the academic, to the political, and to the personal. A highly renowned and decorated scholar, Skocpol addresses her shift from being a broadly comparative scholar, with her path-breaking initial work on comparative revolutions, to focusing her scholarly attention on politics and policy in the United States. She argues that it was not as big a leap as it might seem. She also discusses her institutional shift from sociology to political science, but indicates that this move was not an intellectual turn from sociology and notes that she could never have had the career she has had without first gaining a PhD in sociology. Skocpol shares her views on the current crisis in U.S. higher education in part from her perspective of having been dean of Harvard University’s Graduate School. She also discusses her Madison Lecture from just before the 2024 election that returned Donald Trump to the White House, including her prescient predictions of his authoritarian moves, as well as what was unexpected. In the process, she situates the administration’s moves away from democracy and identifies it as a kind of lawless patrimonialism. Based on her wide-ranging research, she suggests strategies for the U.S. Democratic Party to regain power. This interview took place on the morning of November 4, 2025, Election Day in the United States.