Liam Downey
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Arizona, 2000
Ketchum 215A, 303-492-8626
Research and Teaching Interests:
Environmental Sociology, Environmental Inequality, Race and Ethnic Relations, Urban Sociology, Stratification\Inequality, Political Sociology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Bio:
My primary sociological interests revolve around race and class inequality in the political, environmental, and economic realms. My research agenda is more focused, but follows logically from these interests. For example, I am currently studying environmental inequality in metropolitan America, the mental and physical health impacts of residential proximity to polluting manufacturing facilities, and the impact that residential segregation has on residential proximity to manufacturing jobs and pollution. I am also conducting research that seeks to discover whether female-headed families are more likely than male-headed families and married couple families to live near polluting manufacturing facilities.In addition to conducting research in these areas, I have devoted considerable energy to demonstrating the potentially important role Geographic Information Systems (GIS), or mapping software, can play in advancing sociological thinking and research. I am also conducting a new research project that examines the relationship between economic inequality, democracy, and environmental degradation at the national and global levels.
Publications:
Downey, Liam and Brian Hawkins. 2008. “Single Mother Families and Air Pollution: A National Study.” Forthcoming in Social Science Quarterly.
Downey, Liam. 2007. “US Metropolitan-area Variation in Environmental Inequality Outcomes.” Urban Studies 44:953-977.
Downey, Liam. 2006. “Using Geographic Information Systems to Reconceptualize Spatial Relationships and Ecological Context,” The American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 112(2): 567-612.
Downey, Liam. 2006. “Environmental Racial Inequality in Detroit,” Social Forces. Vol. 85(2): 771-796.
Downey, Liam. 2006. “Environmental Inequality in 14 Major Metropolitan Areas in 2000,” Sociological Spectrum. Vol. 26(1): 21-41.
Downey, Liam. 2005. “The Unintended Significance of Race: Environmental Racial Equality in Detroit,” Social Forces. Vol. 83(3): 971-1007.
Downey, Liam and Marieke Van Willigen. 2005. “Environmental Stressors: The Mental Health Impact of Living Near Industrial Activity,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 46: 289-305.
Downey, Liam. 2005. “Single Mother Families and Industrial Pollution,” Sociological Spectrum. 25(6): 651-675.
Downey, Liam. 2005. “Assessing Environmental Inequality: How the Conclusions We Draw Vary According To the Definitions We Employ,” Sociological Spectrum. Vol. 25(3): 349-369.
Downey, Liam. 2003. “Spatial Measurement, Geography, and Urban Racial Inequality,” Social Forces. Vol. 81(3): 937-954.
Downey, Liam. 1998. "Environmental Injustice: Is Race Or Income A Better Predictor?", Social Science Quarterly. Vol. 79(4): 766-778.
Snow, David, Daniel Cress, Liam Downey and Andrew Jones. 1998. "Disrupting the Quotidian: Reconceptualizing the Relationship Between Breakdown and Collective Action," Mobilization. Vol. 3(1): 1-22.
Grant, Don S. II and Liam Downey. 1995/96. "Regulation through Information: An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of State-sponsored Right-to-know Programs on Industrial Toxic Pollution," Policy Studies Review. Vol. 14(3/4): 339-352.
Downey, Liam. 2000. “Response to Comments by William W. Bowen and Kingsley E. Haynes”, Social Science Quarterly. Vol. 81(3): 889-891.
Under Review & In Progress
Downey, Liam and Brian Hawkins. “Race, Income, and Environmental Inequality in the United States” (Revisions requested by and resubmitted to Sociological Perspectives).
Downey, Liam and Susie Strife. “Inequality, Democracy, and the Environment.” (submitted to the American Journal of Sociology).Downey, Liam, Summer DuBois, and Brian Hawkins. “Environmental Inequality in Metropolitan America (submitted to Organization & Environment).
Crowder, Kyle and Liam Downey. “Inter-Neighborhood Migration, Race, and Environmental Hazards: Modeling Micro-Level Processes of Environmental Inequality (submitted to the American Journal of Sociology).
Grant, Don, Mary Trautner, and Liam Downey. “The Organization of Environmental Injustice.” (submitted to the American Journal of Sociology).
Boardman, Jason, Liam Downey, James Jackson, Bryce Merrill, Jarron Saint Onge, and David Williams. "Industrial Activity and Psychological Distress: Does Gender Matter?" (submitted to the Journal of Health and Social Behavior).
Downey, Liam. “Examining the Neighborhood-Level Determinants of Urban Environmental Inequality in Multiple Metropolitan Areas.”Downey, Liam and Kyle Crowder. “Industrial Hazards, Residential Mobility, and Environmental Inequality: A Study of the Micro- and Macro-Level Determinants of Urban Environmental Inequality.” (This project differs from the previously cited project in that the former project employs aggregate tract-level data while this project merges tract-level data with household-level residential mobility data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics [PSID]).
Downey, Liam and Susie Strife. "Inequality, Democracy, and the Environment: What Role do Economic and Political Inequality Play in Shaping the Global Environmental Crisis?”
Downey, Liam and Susie Strife. “Uncertain Future: Environmental Inequities Facing Children in the United States.”
