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Dion Michelle L., Professor | Senator Wm. McMaster Chair in Gender & Methodology

photo of Michelle L. Dion

Michelle L. Dion

Professor | Senator Wm. McMaster Chair in Gender & Methodology

Faculty
Department of Political Science

Faculty
Master of Public Policy Program

Area(s) of Interest:

Biography

Michelle Dion is an award-winning Associate Professor of Political Science and holds the Senator William McMaster Chair in Gender & Methodology (2019-24) at McMaster University. She is also currently a co-Editor (2020-24) of the American Political Science Review, one of the oldest and most visible journals in the discipline of political science. She is also the founding Academic Director of the Spark Centre for Social Research Innovation (formerly known as CRESS: Centre for Research in Empirical Social Sciences). Her research has been recognized with awards from the Sexuality Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA), and her contributions to the advancement of gender equity have been recognized with the Sarah Shorten Award (2019) from the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and the Status of Women Award of Distinction (2015) from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). 

She specializes in comparative political economy, comparative political behaviour, and research design and methodology. Her research has appeared in Comparative Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Latin American Studies, Latin American Politics & SocietyLatin American Research ReviewSocial Policy and Administration, Social Politics, and PS: Political Science and Politics, among others. She was formerly Associate Professor with tenure in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA, USA) and has been a Fulbright Scholar and visiting professor at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE, Mexico City, Mexico) and Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico). 

Comparative political economy & welfare regimes

Michelle Dion's previous research addresses the ways in which economic and political processes produce different social policy outcomes in the developing world, particularly in Latin America. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, her work addresses key policy questions, including: Why do national social policies vary? What effect does globalization have on policies in developing countries, particularly in Latin America? And, what shapes public preferences for policy? Her work demonstrates that the answers to these questions lie at the intersection of political power and institutions. Economic change and domestic political institutions influence the political capacity of groups to shape welfare policy outcomes.

Her book, Workers and Welfare in Latin America: Mexico in Comparative and Historical Perspective (University of Pittsburgh Press, Latin America Series, 2010), examines the role of organized labor and institutional change in the development of welfare policy in Latin America. Drawing insights from the development welfare policies in the advanced industrialized democracies and the literature in economics and political science on institutional stability and change, she develops a theoretical framework that explains how the interaction of working class power, political institutions, and policy legacies shape welfare policy outcomes. This framework is used to examine the politics and development of welfare policy in Mexico since the 1920s. Qualitative evidence from historical archives, other primary documents, and over 80 interviews with Mexican elites combined with statistical analysis of original data on worker mobilization and welfare provision demonstrate the ways in which organized workers, institutions, and policy legacies shape welfare outcomes. Contrary to common characterizations, labor unions played a central role in the development of Mexican welfare policy throughout the 20th century. However, economic and political reforms of the 1980s and 1990s changed the relationship between unions and the government in ways that led to fundamental changes in social policy. This project was supported by two nationally (U.S.) competitive graduate fellowships (1998-99, 2000-01) and one Faculty Fulbright Award (2004-05).

Other published and working papers examine the effects of pension privatization on women's welfare, model the effects of globalization and political institutions on social spending commitments, and explore the inter-relationship between macro-level income inequality and economic development and micro-level preferences regarding social policies and redistribution.

Comparative political attitudes, sexuality, and policy 

Michelle Dion is currently working on several projects related to comparative political attitudes, sexuality, and policy. She has collaborated with Dr. Jordi Díez on a series of papers that examine the relationship between individual and national characteristics and support for same-sex marriage in Latin America. In other work with Dr. Díez, she uses survey experiments to measure support for same-sex marriage and the correlates of socially desirable survey responses in Argentina. With Drs. Tina Fetner and Melanie Health, she is investigating the relationships between political attitudes, private practices, and public policies in the context of sexuality and family. This research is supported by a 5-year SSHRC Insight Grant.

Supervisory Interests

Michelle Dion is interested in supervising students working in the following areas: 

  • Comparative social policy (including pensions, health, social assistance, or education), particularly in the developing world 
  • Politics of inequality and redistribution 
  • Comparative political economy 
  • Gender, sexuality, and public policy
  • Gender and the sociology of science
  • Latin American politics

Education

  • Ph.D., Political Science (Comparative Politics and Methodology), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, December 2002.
  • M.A., Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, August 1998.
  • B.A., Latin American Studies, with Government concentration, University of Texas at Austin, May 1996. Honours Program. Highest Honours.

Teaching

Dr. Dion does not book undergraduate student appointments for current classes by email. Students in current classes should see her at the beginning or end of class to schedule a meeting. Other undergraduate and graduate students not currently enrolled in a course with Dr. Dion should email her for an appt. 

Courses

Undergraduate
2PF3 - Politics of Funny

4SS3 - Public opinion & policy

Graduate
784 - Quantitative Political and Policy Analysis

762 - Comparative Political Economy

Supervisory Interests

Michelle Dion is interested in supervising students working in the following areas: 

  • Comparative social policy (including pensions, health, social assistance, or education), particularly in the developing world 
  • Politics of inequality and redistribution 
  • Comparative political economy 
  • Gender, sexuality, and public policy
  • Gender & sociology of science
  • Latin American politics

Research

Selected research Funding

  • Applicant/PI. Advancing data-driven research in empirical social sciences (ADDRESS). Connection Grant, Social Science and Humanities Council (SSHRC), 2019-2020. ($22,794CAD).
  • Applicant/PI. Gender, Methodology, Knowledge Mobilization, and Research Impact across Four Social Sciences. Insight Development Grant, Social Science and Humanities Council (SSHRC), 2019-2021. ($65,960CAD).
  • Applicant/PI. Intersections: Social policy & sexuality workshop. Connection Grant, Social Science and Humanities Council (SSHRC) (Tina Fetner, Sociology, McMaster University, and Melanie Health, sociology, McMaster University, co-applicants), 2018. ($22,086).
  • Co-applicant/PI. Mapping the void: LGBTQ+ negotiations of space in a mid-sized Canadian city. Partnership Engage Grant, Social Science and Humanities Council (SSHRC), Suzanne E. Mills, Labour Studies, McMaster University, applicant and James Diemert, AIDS Network, Hamilton, co-applicant), 2018. ($24,983).
  • Co-applicant/PI. Social policy, attitudes and sexual behaviour. Insight Grant, Social Science and Humanities Council (SSHRC) (Tina Fetner, Sociology, McMaster University, applicant, Melanie Heath, Sociology, McMaster, co-applicant), 2016-2022. ($272,536CAD).
  • Applicant/PI. Planning for the Future: Methodology Training in Political Science and Sociology (Laura Stephenson, University of Western Ontario, co-applicant). Connection Grant, Social Science and Humanities Council (SSHRC), 2017. ($14,797CAD).
  • Applicant/PI. Indigenous Futures: Research sovereignty in a changing social science landscape (Chelsea Gable, Health, Aging, and Society, McMaster, co-PI). Knowledge Synthesis Grant (KSG), Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada, 2016-2017. ($24,887CAD)
  • Applicant/PI. Visions in Methodology: Workshop and Network Development for Women in Political Methodology (Laura Stephenson, Political Science, University of Western Ontario, co-PI). Connection Workshop Grant. Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada, 2014-2015. ($24,957 CAD) 
  • Applicant/PI. OPOSSEM: A Web 2.0 Approach to Improving Methodological Training in Political Science (Renan Levine, Political Science, University of Toronto, co-PI). Aid to Research Workshops in Canada, Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada, 2011. ($24,336CAD)
  • Applicant/PI. A Quantitative and Qualitative Examination of Latin American Welfare Regimes since the 1940s. Standard Research Grant (SRG), Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada, 2010-2013. ($70,964CAD) 
  • Co-PI. EAGER: The Creation and Classroom Application of a Web Portal for Social Science Methods Education. Political Science Program, National Science Foundation (NSF). Co-PI with: Shane Nordyke (University of South Dakota); William G. Jacoby (Michigan State University and InterUniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research); Philip Schrodt (Pennsylvania State University); and Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier (Ohio State University). ($207,865USD) 
  • Co-PI. Sources of Support for Pension Privatization: The U.S. in Comparative Perspective (with Andrew Roberts, Northwestern). Steven H. Sandell Grant Program, Center for Retirement Research, Boston College, with funding from the Social Security Administration. ($38,956USD) 
  • García Robles-Fulbright Lecturer-Scholar, 2004-2005. (Mexico, $34,000USD)
Publications

Book

Published (or Forthcoming) Papers