About
Michael T. Heaney is a lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He is a political scientist who studies how social networks, social movements, interest groups, and political parties shape organizational processes and policy outcomes. With Fabio Rojas, he is author of
Party in the Street: The Antiwar Movement and the Democratic Party after 9/11 (Cambridge University Press, 2015). With Melody Shemtov and Marco Roldán, he is creator, producer, and writer of a documentary film, The Activists: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets (Bullfrog Films, 2017). His articles appear in journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Sociology, the Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Social Networks, Science Advances, American Politics Research, and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. He has received research grants from sources such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Civic Discourse, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the National Center for Institutional Diversity.Michael received a PhD in political science and public policy from the University of Chicago. He has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan and the University of Florida, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, and a Congressional Fellow for the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Current Work
Social movements for racial justice and gender equity have long faced challenges in mobilizing marginalized subgroups among their constituencies. For example, movements for racial justice have struggled to mobilize women on an equal basis with men, while women's movements have struggled to mobilize people of color on an equal basis with whites. The election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States has prompted new efforts to mobilize people on the basis of race and gender in the United Sta,EST which has created opportunities to observe movements' work on intersectional issues in real time. This study is based on surveys conducted at marches for racial justice and gender equity in Washington, DC, and other cities, since the election of Trump. The surveys include questions on reasons for marching, political attitudes, history of participation in social movements, organizational membership and participation, and socio-economic factors. Preliminary results show that while movements have recently made strides in giving greater attention to resolving intersectional challenges, differences within movements still remain. In particular, young people, organizational members, more ideological liberal individuals give more attention to intersectionality than do older people, those who are not members of organizations, and those who are more ideologically moderate.
Research Area Keyword(s)
identity, interest groups, political parties, Social movements, social networks