Michael Gillespie | Eastern Illinois University (original) (raw)

Papers by Michael Gillespie

Lovekamp, William E., Shane D. Soboroff and Michael D. Gillespie. 2017. “Engaging Students in Sur... more Lovekamp, William E., Shane D. Soboroff and Michael D. Gillespie. 2017. “Engaging Students in Survey Research Projects across Methods and Statistics Courses.” Teaching Sociology 45(1):1-8.

One innovative way to help students make sense of survey research has been to create a multifaceted, collaborative assignment that promotes critical thinking, comparative analysis, self-reflection, and statistical
literacy. We use a short questionnaire adapted from the Higher Education Research Institute’s Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s Freshman Survey. In our Research Methods course, students begin by administering the brief questionnaire to a small, nonrandom sample of students at our university. They analyze the data descriptively and compare their “results” to the national trends as part of their required course homework. These data are then quantitatively analyzed throughout all homework exercises the next semester during their statistics course. This collaborative effort bridges methods, statistics, and capstone courses, helping students connect the courses and develop a deeper understanding, awareness and appreciation of the utility of preestablished instruments for collecting primary data and for assessing the meaning of secondary data.

The “Great Recession” in the United States exposed contradictions between the economic well-being... more The “Great Recession” in the United States exposed contradictions between the economic well-being of families and capital that developed in the decades prior to this latest downturn. Using social structure of accumulation theory, a qualitative institutional analysis, and quantitative time-series models, this article investigates historically contingent relations between the nature of public assistance, family economic deterioration, and capital accumulation. To sustain the circuit of capital, I argue that the family propped up economic growth first through public cash assistance and then through private expenditures, the latter of which lead to the economic deterioration of families dependent on unprecedented levels of debt.

The United States “Great Recession” beginning in December 2007 was sustained by mounting economic... more The United States “Great Recession” beginning in December 2007 was sustained by mounting economic, financial and social problems of the middle- and working-classes, while exposing contradictions between family economic wellbeing and capital accumulation. To investigate this historically-contingent contradiction, this paper develops a macro-historical concept of the family as a social institution utilizing social structure of accumulation theory. Through an institutional analysis of the political, social, and economic conditions of existence for families in the post-WWII United States, the family as an institution, once supported through a safety net of public support for the reproduction of labor power, becomes leveraged to support consumer demand through private expenditures. This relationship with the political economy leads to a historically contingent understanding of how the economic deterioration of families is linked to unprecedented levels of consumption, and a culture hedged on consumer debt.

Cemeteries, via grave markers and burial records, usually offer sufficiently scant data to enable... more Cemeteries, via grave markers and burial records, usually offer sufficiently scant data to enable a reconstruction of the communities they represent, but cemeteries of total institutions, here, the Yuma Territorial Prison, often yield even less data. With only the variables of ethnicity, sex, prisoner number, date of death, and cause of death, prison conditions were reconstructed for the 111 who died during the prison’s operation (1876-1909), and likely for the other 2,958 who were incarcerated there. First, prisoner number had a high, positive correlation with year of death, indicating that those who died in prison did not live long after incarceration. Further investigation found statistical dependence between the ethnicity of the prisoner and cause (and thus, manner) of death, with tuberculosis disproportionately effecting Hispanics and Native Americans, perhaps suggesting segregation by ethnicity. Hispanics were the only ones shot and killed attempting escape, though numerous escapes were attempted. Also statistically dependent was the decade of death by ethnicity, perhaps reflecting some ethnic sequence of incarceration. Finally, cause and manner of death, over time, were also dependent, likely reflecting deteriorating prison conditions. That so few variables can reveal so much refutes the adage that dead men tell no tales.

Book Chapters by Michael Gillespie

Poverty in the United States, and the historical treatment of poor persons through public relief,... more Poverty in the United States, and the historical treatment of poor persons through public relief, has often been understood through three important conditions: the definition of legitimate work, norms of morality and family, and access to means of consumption and subsistence. For example, in the early days of the modern social welfare system, created during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and 1940’s, relief for the poor was extended in the absence of a breadwinner (work), to support proper families and child-rearing (morality and family), and was considered supplemental to other family- and community-based support systems (consumption). In addition to strict definitions and conventions, work, family, and consumption norms were enforced by punishing those persons who challenged or operated outside of these boundaries. For relief programs themselves, the historical pattern is a record of periodically expanding and contracting relief rolls as the system performs its two main functions: maintaining civil order and enforcing work.

Encyclopedia Entries by Michael Gillespie

pp. 1465-69 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman ... more pp. 1465-69 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman and L. H. Ganong, SAGE Reference, 2014.

Working-Class Families/Working Poor

In the United States, the working class and the working poor hold a place in the social class structure where employment and poverty co-exist. Laborers who work for wages that place them and their families below the comfort zone of middle-class reliability but above absolute poverty—the working-class—have minimal stability within the labor market. In contrast, the working poor, individuals and families whose wages from employment do not provide for a standard of living above official poverty thresholds, struggle just to make ends meet.
At a particular historical time, the working-class and the working poor were distinct groups; however, in recent years these distinctions have disappeared and are now synonymous for low-wage, at-risk families at the margins of the United States economy. Breadwinners in families often hold positions at or near the boundaries of dominant labor markets; this expansive service sector includes low-wage clerical, sales, and physical labor occupations in support of many mainstream social, political, and economic institutions.

pp. 1442-44 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman ... more pp. 1442-44 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman and L. H. Ganong, SAGE Reference, 2014.

Welfare Reform

Welfare reform is the general term to describe the sweeping changes to the US social safety net under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA, PL-104-193). Typically, “welfare reform” illustrates the changes to the provision of public cash assistance from AFDC and the federal guarantee for poor parents with dependent children to time-limited, work-first assistance through TANF. However, this landmark legislation contained nine titles, reforming the nature of cash assistance as well as the conditions for, and access of, other in-kind income support programs such as Medicaid, disability, child nutrition, and food stamps. Further, PRWORA also reforms eligibility standards for special populations including the aged, disabled, legal immigrants, and childless adults.

Prior to the overhaul of the country’s welfare system, the popular conception of welfare was its enabling of addiction-like dependence of poor single mothers on cash assistance. This addiction, it was argued, sapped the work ethic of the poor, and conservative and liberal proponents of welfare reform claimed that cutting off dependent mothers was a tough love approach to self-sufficiency. Securing a level of wellbeing for themselves and their children became the responsibility of parents, not federal, state, or local governments.

pp. 1319-20 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman ... more pp. 1319-20 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman and L. H. Ganong, SAGE Reference, 2014.

TANF

Enacted as part of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA, PL-104-193), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), ending six decades of categorical assistance for poor mothers and their children. TANF reorients the social safety from the federal government to the state-level, using block grants to support time-limited work readiness programs. Despite increased flexibility and some demonstrated effects, TANF remains the dominant cash assistance program throughout the United States. Historically, welfare programs have combined employment with poor relief, but TANF’s time-limits and work-first approach remain most controversial.

pp. 9-11 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman and... more pp. 9-11 in "The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia". Eds.: M. J. Coleman and L. H. Ganong, SAGE Reference, 2014.

ADC/AFDC

Between 1935 and 1996, the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) programs provided a guaranteed safety net for poor families. This categorical aid maintained the wellbeing of children, and later whole families, when the family breadwinner was unable to work or had abandoned the mother and her children. Original ADC cash payments were considered public pensions to provide proper care-giving and parental support for children of deserving single mothers. By the time the program ended the typical recipient reflected social and demographic shifts within the United States, disproportionately serving non-white families. Intertwined with the social, economic, and political conditions over its lifetime, AFDC’s focus evolved from family maintenance toward employment; a legacy which shaped the future of welfare in the United States.

Book Reviews by Michael Gillespie

Edited by Katherine Porter Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2012. Published in... more Edited by Katherine Porter
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2012.

Published in: International Review of Modern Sociology. 39(1):165-8