Mary (Molly) Scudder

About Me

I am an associate professor of Political Science and (by courtesy) Philosophy at Purdue University. I specialize in political theory.

My current research investigates the ideal of democratic citizenship and corresponding expectations of competence and participation. My paper with Tara Grillos, "Cynicism as Contagion, Deliberation as Inoculation?" was named 2025 best paper by ECPR's Democratic Innovations Standing Group.

I am currently working on a book, co-edited with Jake Garrett, called Democracy in the Wild: Political Competence in Everyday Mass Society. Through an integrated set of essays, the book presents a picture of citizens who are already ruling through everyday acts of political willfulness that go beyond electoral processes.

I guest edited a 2025 special issue of Political Communication (with Michael Neblo) on democratic listening. Our introduction article can be found here.

I have published two books and several journal articles on the topic of democracy, deliberation, and disagreement. My first book, Beyond Empathy and Inclusion the Challenge of Listening in Democratic Deliberation (Oxford University Press 2020), establishes the centrality of listening for meaningfully democratic decision making. There, I develop a "listening act theory" to show how ​in listening to our fellow citizens, we recognize their moral equality of voice. It is now out in paperback. I have also developed a "Listening Quality Index," a novel measure of democratic listening to be used in empirical political communication research. 

My second book, The Two Faces of Democracy: Decentering Agonism and Deliberation, ​with Stephen K. White (Oxford University Press 2023), examines the tension and congruence between the deliberative model, or “face,” of democracy, with its emphasis on reason and consensus, and the agonistic face of democracy with its emphasis on conflict and resistance. We argue that while each of these models captures essential intuitions about democracy, the underlying moral infrastructure that connects them is poorly understood. The book offers an account of the key values needed to do justice to both faces of democracy: autonomy and equality.

In Spring 2023, I was visiting faculty at the Centre for Political Research (CEVIPOF) at Sciences Po in Paris. In 2019, I was an academic visitor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance in Canberra, Australia. I received my PhD from the University of Virginia. I grew up in San Francisco, CA and completed my undergraduate degree at Santa Clara University. ​