THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Jane Mansbridge, Ph.D.

“When you have a social movement as opposed to something else, a social movement is made up of ordinary people talking and making sense of things.”

Author, political theorist, known for studies of democratic theory, feminism and social movements. A Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Served as president of the American Political Science Association (2012-2013) and has received, among other awards, the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science (2018) for “shaping our understanding of democracy in its direct and representative forms, with acuity, deep engagement, and feminist theory.” 

Interviewed by Mary Jean Collins, VFA Historian, January 2025

Photo. Mansbridge, when she was active in the Boston women’s movement, watching a taekwondo demonstration in the Boston Public Garden (circa 1970).