Promising Careers
Two IPR sociologists receive young faculty awards

Fall, 2009, Volume 31, Number 1

Monica Prasad (l.) and Celeste Watkins-Hayes share ideas on launching their NSF CAREER projects.

IPR sociologists Monica Prasad and Celeste Watkins-Hayes were recently named as recipients of the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards for 2009.

Each of these faculty members will receive more than $400,000 for their distinctive research projects. Prasad will explore the paradox of how the United States developed the world’s most progressive tax code, while restricting the development of an extensive welfare state. Watkins-Hayes, who holds a joint appointment in the departments of sociology and African American studies at Northwestern, will study the economic and social experiences and processes of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The NSF’s highly competitive CAREER awards program recognizes promising young tenure-track “teacher-scholars” with a demonstrated talent for integrating their research with educational activities. Prasad and Watkins-Hayes join six other Northwestern faculty as recipients of the award this year—in addition to their colleague IPR anthropologist Thomas McDade, who received one in 2002.

Women of Color Living with HIV/AIDS

Watkins-Hayes will use her award, in addition to a Robert Wood Johnson grant that she received this year, to study the economic survival strategies of women living with HIV/AIDS.

The two-year, in-depth study will follow 100 to 200 Chicago-area women of a variety of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. While most previous HIV research has focused on prevention or on gay white males, this project will address the experiences of low-income women of color—one of the fastest growing population groups affected by the disease.

“In looking at the epidemic’s next frontier, it is critical to prevent the economic and social factors that increase risk of HIV infection from further hindering individuals’ abilities to take care of themselves and contribute to their communities after diagnosis,” Watkins-Hayes said. “In addition to the study’s academic contributions, we hope that its diverse community advisory board will secure our added goal of improving programs and policies—and thus, the lives of these women.”

Linking U.S. Tax Progressivity and Welfare

Prasad’s CAREER award will help her piece together the puzzle of why the United States has developed the most progressive tax system of all advanced industrial economies, yet maintains one of the smallest public welfare states. Understanding this inverse correlation could shed new light on the old question of “American exceptionalism,” Prasad said.

“Recent research suggests that America is exceptional not because of a predilection for laissez-faire capitalism, but rather because of the distinct way that it controls capital,” Prasad continued. “My main hypothesis is that more progressive tax systems focus the attention, efforts, and resources of the Left on the attempt to ‘soak the rich’ rather than to use the state to improve conditions for the poor.”

In addition to examining several hypotheses behind this inverse correlation, Prasad will explore interactions between U.S. taxation and welfare over the 20th century to develop a framework for the “sociology of taxation,” which she hopes will yield insights into other aspects of modern society and political economy. Click here to see related volume.