UQ Institute for Social Science Research

 
Professor Mark Western
Location: 
Room 408, General Purpose North 3 (#39A), St Lucia
Phone: 
+61 7 334 67344
Fax: 
+334 67646
E-mail: 
m [dot] western [at] uq [dot] edu [dot] au
Personal assistant: 
Mrs Cassandra Hughes
Position: 
  • Director
Qualifications: 
  • BA (Hons)
  • PhD

Background

Mark Western is Director of the Institute for Social Science Research. He was previously a Director of The University of Queensland Social Research Centre which he helped establish. His research focuses on the impact of large-scale social change on social and economic inequality, politics and culture, and family and household formation in contemporary societies like Australia. Mark is also interested in the use of quantitative methods in social science and is presently undertaking research into methods for analysing certain kinds of longitudinal data.

Mark Western has been an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin Madison, a Hallsworth Visiting Professor in Political Economy at the University of Manchester and is an international Fellow of the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University. He is a member of the College of Experts of the Australian Research Council, a Chief Investigator and node leader on the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security, an Executive Committee Member of the Australian Social Science Data Archive, and a member of the  Management and Strategic Planning Committees of the Australian Research Council Network for Spatially Integrated Social Science (ARCRNSISS). Between 2000 and 2004 he was Treasurer of the Australian Sociological Association. He was also Treasurer of the Local Organising Committee for the XVth World Congress of Sociology held in Brisbane in 2002.

Research interests

  • Social inequality
  • Gender inequality and politics and culture under neoliberalism
  • Social mobility and social stratification
  • Class analysis
  • Survey research methodology
  • Quantitative data analysis methods
  • Political sociology
  • Economic and social well-being
  • Public and engaged social science
Recent key publications: 

Books

  • Baxter, J.H. and Western M.C. (eds) 2001. Reconfigurations of Class and Gender. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  • Wilson, S., Gibson, R., Denemark, D., Meagher, G. and Western, M. (eds) 2005.  Australian Survey of Social Attitudes the First Report. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
  • Denmark, S., Meagher, G., Wilson, S., Western, M. and Phillips, T (eds) 2007. Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2: Citizenship, Work and Aspirations. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.

Book Chapters

  • Western, M. and Tranter, B. 2005. ‘Are Post Materialists Engaged Citizens?’ In Wilson, S., Gibson, R., Denemark, D., Meagher, G. and Western, M. 2005. Australian Social Attitudes the First Report. Sydney. University of New South Wales Press. pp. 82-100.
  • Western, M., and Baxter, J. 2007. ‘Class and Inequality in Australia’, in Germov, J. and Poole, M. (eds). Public Sociology: An Introduction to Australian Society. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin. pp. 215-238.
  •  Western, M., Baxter, J., and Chesters, J. 2007. ‘How are Families Managing?’. In Denemark, S., Meagher, G., Wilson, S., Phillips, T., and Western, M. 2007. (eds) Australian Social Attitudes the Second Report. Sydney. University of New South Wales Press. pp. 241-261.

Journal Articles

  • Hewitt, B., Baxter, J. and Western, M. 2005. 'Who Gets Divorced in Australia? An Examination of the Temporal, Life Course and Socioeconomic Determinants of Marital Dissolution'. Journal of Sociology. 41: 161-183
  • Western, M., Hewitt, B. and Baxter, J. 2005. 'Marriage and Money: Variations across the Earnings Distribution'. Australian Journal of Labour Economics. 8: 163-180
  • Nguyen, A., Ferrier, L., Western, M. and McKay, S. 2005. ‘Online news in Australia: patterns of uses and gratifications’. Australian Studies in Journalism, 15: 5-34.
  • Hewitt, B., Baxter, J. and Western, M. 2006. 'Family, Work and Health: The Impact of Marriage, Parenthood and Employment on Self-Reported Health of Men and Women'. Journal of Sociology, 42: 61-78.
  • Nguyen, A. & Western, M. 2006. ‘The complementary relationship between the Internet and traditional mass media: the case of online news and information’ Information Research, 11(3), paper 259 [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/11-3/paper259.html].
  • Hewitt, B, Western, M. and Baxter, J. 2006. 'Who Decides? The Social Characteristics of Who Initiates Marital Separation'. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68: 1165-1177.
  • Western, M. Baxter, J., Pakulski, J., Tranter, B., Western, J., Van Egmond, M., Chesters, J., Hosking, A., O’Flaherty, M., Van Gellecum, Y. 2007. ‘Neoliberalism, Inequality and Politics: Public Policy and the Transformation of Australian Society’. Australian Journal of Social Issues. 42(3): 401-418.
  • Nguyen, A. and Western, M. 2007. ‘Socio-structural correlates of online news and information adoption/use: Implications for the digital divide’.  Journal of Sociology, 43(2): 167-185.
  • Hosking, A. and Western, M. 2008. ‘The Effects of Non-standard Employment on Work-family Conflict'. Journal of Sociology. 44: 5-27
  • Van Gellecum, Y., Baxter, J., and Western, M. 2008. ‘Neoliberalism, Gender Inequality and the Australian Labour Market’. Journal of Sociology. 44: 45-63.
Personal URL: 
http://www.issr.uq.edu.au/
Profile URL: 
UQ Researchers