Michael Wallerstein (16 January 1951 – 7 January 2006) was a noted

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and the son of psychoanalyst Robert S. Wallerstein and psychologist

Judith Wallerstein Judith Wallerstein (December 27, 1921 – June 18, 2012) was a psychologist and researcher who created a 25-year study on the effects of divorce on the children involved. She received a number of prominent awards and honors and wrote four best se ...

. He was also the nephew of the American sociologist

Immanuel Wallerstein Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (; September 28, 1930 – August 31, 2019) was an American sociologist and economic historian. He is perhaps best known for his development in sociology of world-systems approach."Wallerstein, Immanuel (1930– )." ...

Education

Wallerstein received his undergraduate education at the

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, majoring in political science and graduating in 1974. He received his graduate training in political science at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. After receiving his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1985, he was affiliated with

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Career

In 1994, he moved to

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, and finally moved to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 2004, where he was named as Saden Professor.

Research

Wallerstein's research concerned inequality in advanced industrial societies. In particular, he studied the impact of labor market institutions, such as systems of

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

, as well as the politics of

income redistribution Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, ...

, such as

social insurance Social insurance is a form of Social protection, social welfare that provides insurance against economic risks. The insurance may be provided publicly or through the subsidizing of private insurance. In contrast to other forms of Welfare spend ...

and

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

. He and Karl Ove Moene suggested that citizens don't see public pensions, unemployment insurance and sickness insurance as a form of residual redistribution from the rich to poor, but as a personal warranty to maintain their standard of living in the event of a job loss, an illness, or old age. Wallerstein continued the school of thought founded by his dissertation advisor

Adam Przeworski Adam Przeworski (; born May 5, 1940) is a Polish-American professor of political science specializing in comparative politics. He is Carroll and Milton Professor Emeritus in the Department of Politics of New York University. He is a scholar of dem ...

and inspired by the democratic theory of

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at Harvard Unive ...

, along with Michael Wallerstein,

Stathis Kalyvas Stathis N. Kalyvas (; born 7 March 1964) is a Greek political scientist who is the Gladstone Professor of Government, at the University of Oxford and a University Academic Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. He has held professorial positions at ...

, Jose Cheibub,

Leonard Wantchekon Leonard Wantchekon (born 1956) is a Beninese economist and professor of Politics and International Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and an affiliate of the Economics Department at Princeton University. He taugh ...

Awards

Wallerstein was awarded the Franklin L. Burdette

Pi Sigma Alpha Pi Sigma Alpha ( or PSA), the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political and social sciences in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic ...

Award in 1985 for the best paper presented at the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...

's 1984 annual meeting, and he later served on the APSA executive council. In 2005, he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

References

Selected bibliography

* ''(PhD thesis)'' * * *

External links

Obituary from Yale Bulletin and Calendar

Obituary from Yale Daily News

Obituary from Chicago Tribune
1951 births 2006 deaths Stanford University alumni 20th-century American political scientists {{polisci-bio-stub