Theda Skocpol Professor of Government and Sociology Harvard University's Books

Diminished Democracy

From Membership to Management in American Civic Life

By: Theda Skocpol

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Diminished Democracy

From Membership to Management in American Civic Life

By: Theda Skocpol

Pundits and social observers have voiced alarm each year as fewer Americans involve themselves in voluntary groups that meet regularly. Thousands of nonprofit groups have been launched in recent times, but most are run by professionals who lobby Congress or deliver social services to clients. What will happen to U.S. democracy if participatory groups and social movements wither, while civic involvement becomes one more occupation rather than every citizens right and duty? In Diminished Democracy, Theda Skocpol shows that this decline in public involvement has not always been the case in this countryand how, by understanding the causes of this change, we might reverse it.

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387

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University of Oklahoma Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

080618051X

ISBN 13

9780806180519

What a Mighty Power We Can Be

African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality

By: Theda Skocpol,Ariane Liazos,Marshall Ganz

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What a Mighty Power We Can Be

African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality

By: Theda Skocpol,Ariane Liazos,Marshall Ganz

From the nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries, millions of American men and women participated in fraternal associations--self-selecting brotherhoods and sisterhoods that provided aid to members, enacted group rituals, and engaged in community service. Even more than whites did, African Americans embraced this type of association; indeed, fraternal lodges rivaled churches as centers of black community life in cities, towns, and rural areas alike. Using an unprecedented variety of secondary and primary sources--including old documents, pictures, and ribbon-badges found in eBay auctions--this book tells the story of the most visible African American fraternal associations. The authors demonstrate how African American fraternal groups played key roles in the struggle for civil rights and racial integration. Between the 1890s and the 1930s, white legislatures passed laws to outlaw the use of important fraternal names and symbols by blacks. But blacks successfully fought back. Employing lawyers who in some cases went on to work for the NAACP, black fraternalists took their cases all the way to the Supreme Court, which eventually ruled in their favor. At the height of the modern Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, they marched on Washington and supported the lawsuits through lobbying and demonstrations that finally led to legal equality. This unique book reveals a little-known chapter in the story of civic democracy and racial equality in America.

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313

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691190518

ISBN 13

9780691190518

Social Policy in the United States

Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective

By: Theda Skocpol

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Social Policy in the United States

Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective

By: Theda Skocpol

Health care, welfare, Social Security, employment programs--all are part of ongoing national debates about the future of social policy in the United States. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, Theda Skocpol shows how historical understanding, centered on governmental institutions and political alliances, can illuminate the limits and possibilities of American social policymaking both past and present. Skocpol dispels the myth that Americans are inherently hostile to social spending and suggests why President Clinton's health care agenda was so quickly attacked despite the support of most Americans for his goals.

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338

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691214026

ISBN 13

9780691214023

Obama and America's Political Future

By: Theda Skocpol,Larry M Bartels,Mickey Edwards,Suzanne Mettler

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Obama and America's Political Future

By: Theda Skocpol,Larry M Bartels,Mickey Edwards,Suzanne Mettler

Obama’s 2008 victory, coming amid the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s, opened the door to major reforms. But he quickly faced skepticism from supporters and fierce opposition from Republicans. What happened? Skocpol surveys the political landscape to help us to understand Obama’s triumphs and setbacks and see where we might be headed next.

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210

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Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674067940

ISBN 13

9780674067943

Diminished Democracy

From Membership to Management in American Civic Life

By: Theda Skocpol

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Diminished Democracy

From Membership to Management in American Civic Life

By: Theda Skocpol

Pundits and social observers have voiced alarm each year as fewer Americans involve themselves in voluntary groups that meet regularly. Thousands of nonprofit groups have been launched in recent times, but most are run by professionals who lobby Congress or deliver social services to clients. What will happen to U.S. democracy if participatory groups and social movements wither, while civic involvement becomes one more occupation rather than every citizen’s right and duty? In Diminished Democracy, Theda Skocpol shows that this decline in public involvement has not always been the case in this country—and how, by understanding the causes of this change, we might reverse it.

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388

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University of Oklahoma Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0806150173

ISBN 13

9780806150178

State and Party in America's New Deal

By: Kenneth Finegold,Theda Skocpol

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State and Party in America's New Deal

By: Kenneth Finegold,Theda Skocpol

A historically grounded and theoretically informed analysis of two major governmental interventions into the US economy--the National Recovery Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Working back and forth between theories of politics in advanced capitalist democracies and the two concrete historical trajectories, the authors' argument is that the origins, implementation, and consequences of the NRA and AAA are best explained with a historical institutionalist, state- and party-centered approach. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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364

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Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0299147649

ISBN 13

9780299147648

Boomerang

Health Care Reform and the Turn Against Government

By: Theda Skocpol

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Boomerang

Health Care Reform and the Turn Against Government

By: Theda Skocpol

Skocpol (government and sociology, Harvard U.) explores the changing currents of domestic U.S. politics through the prism of the defeat of President Clinton's comprehensive health care plan. She argues that the defeat reflected the success of Reaganite conservative tactics which switched from direct attacks on social programs to a fiscal starvation in the name of lower taxes. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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260

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W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

039331572X

ISBN 13

9780393315721

Protecting Soldiers and Mothers

By: Theda Skocpol

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Protecting Soldiers and Mothers

By: Theda Skocpol

It is a commonplace that the United States lagged behind the countries of Western Europe in developing modern social policies. But, as Theda Skocpol shows in this startlingly new historical analysis, the United States actually pioneered generous social spending for many of its elderly, disabled, and dependent citizens. During the late nineteenth century, competitive party politics in American democracy led to the rapid expansion of benefits for Union Civil War veterans and their families. Some Americans hoped to expand veterans' benefits into pensions for all of the needy elderly and social insurance for workingmen and their families. But such hopes went against the logic of political reform in the Progressive Era. Generous social spending faded along with the Civil War generation. Instead, the nation nearly became a unique maternalist welfare state as the federal government and more than forty states enacted social spending, labor regulations, and health education programs to assist American mothers and children. Remarkably, as Skocpol shows, many of these policies were enacted even before American women were granted the right to vote. Banned from electoral politics, they turned their energies to creating huge, nation-spanning federations of local women's clubs, which collaborated with reform-minded professional women to spur legislative action across the country. Blending original historical research with political analysis, Skocpol shows how governmental institutions, electoral rules, political parties, and earlier public policies combined to determine both the opportunities and the limits within which social policies were devised and changed by reformers and politically active social groups over the course of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By examining afresh the institutional, cultural, and organizational forces that have shaped U.S. social policies in the past, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers challenges us to think in new ways about what might be possible in the American future.

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737

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Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674043723

ISBN 13

9780674043725

Boomerang

Health Care Reform and the Turn Against Government

By: Theda Skocpol

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Boomerang

Health Care Reform and the Turn Against Government

By: Theda Skocpol

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260

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W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

039331572X

ISBN 13

9780393315721

Civic Engagement in American Democracy

By: Theda Skocpol,Morris P. Fiorina

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Civic Engagement in American Democracy

By: Theda Skocpol,Morris P. Fiorina

American democracy is in many ways more vital than ever before. Advocacy groups proliferate and formerly marginalized groups enjoy new opportunities. But worrisome trends exist. Millions of Americans are drawing back from involvements with community affairs and politics. Voters stay home; public officials grapple with distrust or indifference; and people are less likely to cooperate on behalf of shared goals. Observers across the spectrum of opinion agree that it is vital to determine what is happening and why—so that Americans can take well-informed, effective steps to revitalize our national community. The book opens with an eagle-eye look at the roots of America's special patterns of civic engagement, examining the ways social groups and government and electoral politics have influenced each other. Other chapters examine the impact of advocacy groups and socioeconomic inequalities on democratic processes and probe the influence of long-term social and cultural changes on voluntary associations and civic participation. The book concludes by asking why social liberation has been accompanied by new inequalities and the erosion of many important forms of citizen leverage and participation. Coming together from several disciplines, contributors include Jeffrey M. Berry, Henry E. Brady, John Brehm, Steven Brint, Elisabeth S. Clemens, Peter Dobkin Hall, Wendy M. Rahn, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Sidney Verba, and Robert Wuthnow. Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation

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556

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0815798938

ISBN 13

9780815798934

The Missing Middle

Working Families and the Future of American Social Policy

By: Theda Skocpol

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The Missing Middle

Working Families and the Future of American Social Policy

By: Theda Skocpol

An eye-opening look at how America's social policy has been hijacked by a rhetoric of extremes.

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228

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W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

0393321134

ISBN 13

9780393321135

Obama and America's Political Future

By: Theda Skocpol,Larry M Bartels,Mickey Edwards,Suzanne Mettler

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Obama and America's Political Future

By: Theda Skocpol,Larry M Bartels,Mickey Edwards,Suzanne Mettler

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210

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Harvard University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0674067940

ISBN 13

9780674067943

The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism

By: Theda Skocpol,Vanessa Williamson

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The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism

By: Theda Skocpol,Vanessa Williamson

In this penetrating new study, Skocpol of Harvard University, one of today's leading political scientists, and co-author Williamson go beyond the inevitable photos of protesters in tricorn hats and knee breeches to provide a nuanced portrait of the Tea Party. What they find is sometimes surprising.

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274

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190633662

ISBN 13

9780190633660

Social Policy in the United States

Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective

By: Theda Skocpol

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Social Policy in the United States

Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective

By: Theda Skocpol

Reforming health care, revamping the welfare system, preserving or cutting Social Security, creating employment programs for displaced employees, and revising U.S. social programs to help working parents with children - all of these endeavors and more are part of ongoing national debates about the future of social policy in the United States. In this wide-ranging collection of essays, renowned social scientist Theda Skocpol shows how historical understanding, centered on U.S. governmental institutions and shifting political alliances, can illuminate the limits and possibilities of American social policymaking both past and present.

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338

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

069103785X

ISBN 13

9780691037851

States and Social Revolutions

By: Theda Skocpol

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States and Social Revolutions

By: Theda Skocpol

Theda Skocpol shows how all three combine to explain the origins and accomplishments of social-revolutionary transformations.

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433

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1107569842

ISBN 13

9781107569843

Social Revolutions in the Modern World

By: Theda Skocpol

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Social Revolutions in the Modern World

By: Theda Skocpol

Theda Skocpol, author of the award-winning 1979 book States and Social Revolutions, updates her arguments about social revolutions.

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366

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Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521409381

ISBN 13

9780521409384

What a Mighty Power We Can Be

African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality

By: Theda Skocpol,Ariane Liazos,Marshall Ganz

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What a Mighty Power We Can Be

African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality

By: Theda Skocpol,Ariane Liazos,Marshall Ganz

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313

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691190518

ISBN 13

9780691190518

Health Care Reform and American Politics

What Everyone Needs to Know

By: Lawrence R. Jacobs,Theda Skocpol

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Health Care Reform and American Politics

What Everyone Needs to Know

By: Lawrence R. Jacobs,Theda Skocpol

In this updated edition of Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know(R), Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol provide a concise and accessible overview of the politics of health care policy.

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238

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190262044

ISBN 13

9780190262044

Health Care Reform and American Politics

What Everyone Needs to Know®, Revised and Updated Edition

By: Lawrence R. Jacobs,Theda Skocpol

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Health Care Reform and American Politics

What Everyone Needs to Know®, Revised and Updated Edition

By: Lawrence R. Jacobs,Theda Skocpol

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama in March 2010 is a landmark in U.S. social legislation, and the Supreme Court's recent decision upholding the Act has ensured that it will remain the law of the land. The new law extends health insurance to nearly all Americans, fulfilling a century-long quest and bringing the United States to parity with other industrial nations. Affordable Care aims to control rapidly rising health care costs and promises to make the United States more equal, reversing four decades of rising disparities between the very rich and everyone else. Millions of people of modest means will gain new benefits and protections from insurance company abuses - and the tab will be paid by privileged corporations and the very rich. How did such a bold reform effort pass in a polity wracked by partisan divisions and intense lobbying by special interests? What does Affordable Care mean-and what comes next? In this updated edition of Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol-two of the nation's leading experts on politics and health care policy-provide a concise and accessible overview. They explain the political battles of 2009 and 2010, highlighting White House strategies, the deals Democrats cut with interest groups, and the impact of agitation by Tea Partiers and progressives. Jacobs and Skocpol spell out what the new law can do for everyday Americans, what it will cost, and who will pay. In a new section, they also analyze the impact the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the law. Above all, they explain what comes next, as critical yet often behind-the-scenes battles rage over implementing reform nationally and in the fifty states. Affordable Care still faces challenges at the state level despite the Court ruling. But, like Social Security and Medicare, it could also gain strength and popularity as the majority of Americans learn what it can do for them. What Everyone Needs to Know® is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.

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232

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199976147

ISBN 13

9780199976140

Reaching for a New Deal

Ambitious Governance, Economic Meltdown, and Polarized Politics in Obama's First Two Years

By: Theda Skocpol,Lawrence R. Jacobs

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Reaching for a New Deal

Ambitious Governance, Economic Meltdown, and Polarized Politics in Obama's First Two Years

By: Theda Skocpol,Lawrence R. Jacobs

During his winning presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to counter rising economic inequality and revitalize America's middle-class through a series of wide-ranging reforms. His transformational agenda sought to ensure affordable healthcare; reform the nation's schools and make college more affordable; promote clean and renewable energy; reform labor laws and immigration; and redistribute the tax burden from the middle class to wealthier citizens. The Wall Street crisis and economic downturn that erupted as Obama took office also put U.S. financial regulation on the agenda. By the middle of President Obama's first term in office, he had succeeded in advancing major reforms by legislative and administrative means. But a sluggish economic recovery from the deep recession of 2009, accompanied by polarized politics and governmental deadlock in Washington, DC, have raised questions about how far Obama's promised transformations can go. Reaching for a New Deal analyzes both the ambitious domestic policy of Obama's first two years and the consequent political backlash—up to and including the 2010 midterm elections. Reaching for a New Deal opens by assessing how the Obama administration overcame intense partisan struggles to achieve legislative victories in three areas—health care reform, federal higher education loans and grants, and financial regulation. Lawrence Jacobs and Theda Skocpol examine the landmark health care bill, signed into law in spring 2010, which extended affordable health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans after nearly 100 years of failed legislative attempts to do so. Suzanne Mettler explains how Obama succeeded in reorienting higher education policy by shifting loan administration from lenders to the federal government and extending generous tax tuition credits. Reaching for a New Deal also examines the domains in which Obama has used administrative action to further reforms in schools and labor law. The book concludes with examinations of three areas—energy, immigration, and taxes—where Obama's efforts at legislative compromises made little headway. Reaching for a New Deal combines probing analyses of Obama's domestic policy achievements with a big picture look at his change-oriented presidency. The book uses struggles over policy changes as a window into the larger dynamics of American politics and situates the current political era in relation to earlier pivotal junctures in U.S. government and public policy. It offers invaluable lessons about unfolding political transformations in the United States.

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457

Publisher

Russell Sage Foundation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1610447115

ISBN 13

9781610447119

Book's by Theda Skocpol Professor of Government and Sociology Harvard University

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