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Shaun Wilson
Shaun Wilson
Department of Sociology
Shaun Wilson teaches and researches in the areas of the sociology of work and welfare and in political sociology. He is interested in quantitative methodologies in the social sciences, and in social survey and public opinion research.
Shaun's broad research interest lies in understanding the social and political dynamics of institutions that promote democratic inclusion --- union membership in the workplace, social policy development in the state, and public participation in politics. His current research investigates why Australians resist paying taxes to support the welfare state as well as broader trends in public opinion about welfare. With Gabrielle Meagher at the University of Sydney, Shaun is also researching the rising number of 'unrepresented workers'--those employees who prefer to belong to a union but do not-- in Australia. He is also involved in a collaborative project on public responses to globalisation in Asia and Europe, which will be published by Routledge in 2006.
Before joining Macquarie in mid-2005, Shaun was Research Fellow in the ACSPRI Centre for Social Research in the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU. He has previously lectured at University of Sydney, NSW and ANU.
Current Research Projects
Shaun is working on an ARC Discovery grant project with Prof Gabrielle Meagher (Sydney University). The project is looking at how perceptions of welfare have changed over the time of the Howard Government, mainly drawing on public opinion data and an analysis of policy trends. But the research agenda has also taken up debates about the need for social policy reform. As part of this investigation, they have recently published some papers about the poor standards of public dental care in Australia, which can be downloaded here.
The project also investigates why the sharp increase in perceptions of rising income inequality in Australians is, apparently, not translating intogreater support for redistributing income. For further information click here.
Closely related to this research is a collaborative project (with Dr Ben Spies Butcher and Adam Stebbing) which studies the links between attitudes to welfare and attitudes to taxation. This project seeks to discover whether citizens identify common underlying ‘goals’ for welfare and taxes that provide insight into the competing roles of government that voters attach to these institutions, and which shape political debate and policy. The findings suggest a strong link between orientations for welfare and taxes, reinforcing our view that taxation institutions are very relevant to social policy research.
Shaun is also working with Dr Sean Scalmer (Melbourne University) on a qualitative study to accompany the Australia@Work project run by Drs Brigid van Wanrooy and John Buchanan at Sydney University. The findings will be reported in 2008.
Publications
Books (single-authored)
2004. The Struggle Over Work: The 'end of work' and employment alternatives in post-industrial societies. London: Routledge.
Books (co-authored)
2007. with D. Denemark, G. Meagher, M. Western and T. Phillips (eds.) Australian Social Attitudes: The Second Report. Sydney: UNSW Press.
2005. with G. Meagher, R. Gibson, D. Denemark and M. Western (eds.) Australian Social Attitudes: The First Report. Sydney: UNSW Press.
Journal Articles
2007. with D. Bryan. 'Inside the Crystal Ball of Finance: Financial market economists’ attitudes to market and society', Australian Economic Review, December, forthcoming.
2006. 'Not My Taxes: Explaining tax resistance and its implications for Australia's welfare state', Australian Journal of Political Science, 41(4): 517-535.
2006. with B. Van Wanrooy. 'Convincing the Toilers? Dilemmas of Long Working Hours in Australia', Work, Employment and Society, 20(2): 349-368.
2004. 'Gay, Lesbian, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender identification and attitudes to same-sex relationships in Australia and the United States', People and Place, 12(4), pp. 12-21.
2004. with T. Breusch. 'After the Tax Revolt: Why Medicare matters more to Middle Australia than lower taxes', Australian Journal of Social Issues, 39(2), pp. 99-116.
2003. with T. Breusch. 'Taxes and Social Spending: The Shifting Demands of the Australian Public', Australian Journal of Social Issues, 38(1), pp. 39-56.
2003. with T. Fattore and N. Turnbull. 'More Community! Does the Social Capital Hypothesis Offer Hope to Untrusting Societies?', Australian Review of Public Affairs, 3(3), pp. 165-179.
2002. with G. Meagher. 'Complexity and practical knowledge in the social sciences: a comment on Stehr and Grundmann', British Journal of Sociology, 53(4), pp. 659-667.
2001. with N. Turnbull. 'The Two Faces of Economic Insecurity: Reply to Goot and Watson on One Nation', Australian Journal of Politics and History, 47(4), pp. 507-510.
2001. with N. Turnbull. 'Wedge Politics and Welfare Reform in Australia', Australian Journal of Politics and History, 47(3), pp. 384-402.
1998. 'Union Mobilisation and the 1998 Maritime Dispute', Journal of Australian Political Economy, 41, pp. 23-36.
Book Chapters
2007. with G. Meagher. 'Are unions regaining popular legitimacy in Australia?', in D. Denemark, G. Meagher, S. Wilson, M. Western and T. Phillips (eds.) Australian Social Attitudes: The Second Report. Sydney: UNSW Press.
2007. with G. Meagher. ‘Howard’s welfare state: how popular is the new social policy agenda?', in D. Denemark, G. Meagher, S. Wilson, M. Western and T. Phillips (eds.) Australian Social Attitudes: The Second Report. Sydney: UNSW Press.
2006. with D. Bryan. 'Inside the Crystal Ball of Finance: Understanding Financial Economists' Attitudes to Market and Society', in P. Kriesler, M. Johnson and J. Lodewijks (eds.) Essays in Heterodox Economics, Society of Heterodox Economists. Proceedings of the Fifth Conference, 11-12 December, pp. 36-51.
2005. with G. Meagher. 'Where to for the welfare state? Attitudes to spending, welfare and social services', in G. Meagher, R. Gibson, S. Wilson, D. Denemark and M. Western (eds.) Australian Social Attitudes: The First Report. Sydney: UNSW Press.
2005. with I. Marsh and G. Meagher. 'Are Australians open to globalisation?', in G. Meagher, R. Gibson, S. Wilson, D. Denemark and M. Western (eds.) Australian Social Attitudes: The First Report. Sydney: UNSW Press.
2005. with R. Gibson, G. Meagher, D. Denemark and M. Western. 'Introduction', in G. Meagher, R. Gibson, S. Wilson, D. Denemark and M. Western (eds.) Australian Social Attitudes: The First Report. Sydney: UNSW Press.
2004. with T. Breusch. 'Where the Divides Lie: Public Opinion and Political Elites', in M. Sawer and B. Hindess (eds.) Us and Them: Elites in Australia. API Network, Australia Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, Perth.
2003. 'The Working Environment', in D. Holmes, K. Hughes and R. Julian (eds.) Australian Sociology: A changing society. Sydney: Pearson Educational: Sydney.