Michael L. Smith, Ph.D.

Department:
Position: 
Senior Researcher
Phone: 
+420 737 813 807

Attached links

Curriculum vitae

Education: 
  • 1998, B.A., University of Washington in Seattle, USA

  • 2000, M.A., Boston College, USA

  • 2003-2008, Ph.D., New School for Social Research, New York, USA

Field of specialisation: 
  • sociology: social stratification, social and educational inequality, social exclusion
  • political science: democratic governance, corruption, civil society and public participation, direct democracy
Teaching activities: 
  • 2003-, University of Washington, Department of Comparative History of Ideas, Lecturer
  • 2001-2005, Anglo-American College in Prague, Lecturer
  • 2002-2003, Sarah Lawrence College, New York, Lecturer
  • 2002-2003, New York University, New York, Teaching Assistant
  • 2001, Eugene Lang College, New York, Lecturer
Foreign scholarships, fellowships or other academic study abroad: 

All my my academic training took place outside of the Czech Republic. During my doctoral studies, I also participated in the International Summer School in Political Philosophy in Cortona, Italy, organized by the Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna (1999); the Democracy and Diversity Graduate Summer Institute in Krakow, Poland (2001); annd received the Short-Term Grant (study in residence) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, East European Studies, Washington DC (2002)

 

Biographic information: 

I am a senior researcher at two institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences: Intitute of Sociology and CERGE-EI. I am also a lecturer at the University of Washington, Seattle. From 2014-2018, I was involved in the Center of Excellence project “Dynamics of Change in Czech Society,” where I co-led the research team developing the Czech Household Panel Study. I received B.A. degrees from the University of Washington in Seattle (1998), M.A. from Boston College (2000), and my PhD in Political Science (2008) from the New School for Social Research in New York, where I also received the Hannah Arendt Prize for Best Dissertation. During my studies I was a David L. Boren Fellow, a Jacob K. Javits Fellow, an IREX fellow, and a short-term scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. I led the team creating www.politickefinance.cz, the database of Czech political party financing. I am dedicated to both basic and applied research, and I am focused on helping my institutions acquire research grants necessary for implementing large-scale social surveys and for funding research into fundamental questions of social and economic inequality in the Czech Republic and around the world. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PUBLICATIONS ON THE RIGHT ARE NOT COMPLETE, BECAUSE THIS WEBSITE ISN'T CAPABLE OF LISTING ACADEMIC WORK PRODUCED AT OTHER RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS. A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF MY JOURNAL ARTICLES ARE BELOW. ALL OF MY RESERCH WORK IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.MICHAEL.SMITH.CZ

Tsai, Shu-Ling, Michael L. Smith, Robert M. Houser. 2018. “Gender Gaps in Student Academic Achievement and Inequality.” Research in the Sociology of Education 20: 181-218.

Smith, Michael L., Petra Anýžová, Petr Matějů. 2018. “Returns to Cognitive Skills: New Evidence from 14 Nations.” Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. http://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2018.1508335.

Federičová, Miroslava, Filip Pertold, and Michael L. Smith. 2018. “Children Left Behind: Self-confidence of Pupils in Competitive Environments.” Education Economics 26 (2): 145-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2017.1395811. 

Tsai, Shu-Ling, Michael L. Smith, Robert M. Hauser. 2017. “Families, Schools, and Student Achievement Inequality: A Multilevel MIMIC Model Approach.” Sociology of Education 90 (1): 64-88. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040716683779. 

Michal Nový, Michael L. Smith, Tomáš Katrňák. 2017. “Inglehart’s scarcity hypothesis revisited: Is postmaterialism a macro-, or micro-level phenomenon around the world?” International Sociology 32 (6): 683-706. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580917722892. 

Münich, Daniel, Petr Matějů, Jana Straková, and Michael L. Smith. 2017. “Structural Embeddedness of Students’ Professional Expectations: The Czech Republic and Taiwan in Comparative Perspective“. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1377059. 

Mateju, Petr, Michael L. Smith, Simona Weidnerova, Petra Anyzova. 2017. “The Role of Basic Values and Education on Women’s Work and Family Preferences in Europe.” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 37 (9/10): 494-514. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-10-2016-0117. 

Smith, Michael L., Shu-Ling Tsai, Min-Hsiung Huang, Petr Matějů. 2016. “Educational Expansion and Inequality in Taiwan and the Czech Republic.” Comparative Education Review 60 (2): 339-374. https://doi.org/10.1086/685695. 

Mateju, Petr and Michael L. Smith. 2015. “Are Boys That Bad? Gender gaps in skills, grades and aspirations in Czech elementary schools.” British Journal of the Sociology of Education 36 (6): 871-895. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2013.874278. 

Gregor, Martin and Michael L. Smith. 2013. “Civic Initiatives in the Context of Legal Uncertainty.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 25 (1): 36-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/0951629812446504. 

Smith, Michael L. and Petr Mateju. 2012. “Two Decades of Value Change: The Crystallization of Meritocratic and Egalitarian Beliefs in the Czech Republic.” Social Justice Research 25 (4): 421-439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-012-0164-9.

Matějů, Petr a Michael L. Smith. 2012. “Kontinuita a změna přesvědčení o distributivní spravedlnosti v České republice v letech 1991 a 2009 [Continuity and Change in Beliefs about Distributive Justice in the Czech Republic, 1991-2009].” Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 48 (1): 65-84. 

Smith, Michael L. 2011. “Politika odvolání jako inovativní nástroj prosazování transparentnosti a občanské účasti ve slovenské a polské místní samosprávě.” [The Politics of Recall: An Innovative Tool for Promoting Transparency and Political Participation in Slovak and Polish Local Government] Sociologia / Slovak Sociological Review 43 (4): 338-361.

Smith, Michael L. and Petr Matějů. 2011. “Restratifikace české politiky. Vývoj třídně podmíněného volebního chování v České republice v letech 1992–2010.” [The Re-Stratification of Czech Politics: Class-Based Electoral Behavior in the Czech Republic, 1992-2010] Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 47 (1): 33–59. 

Smith, Michael L. 2010. “Perceived Corruption, Distributive Justice, and the Legitimacy of the System of Social Stratification in the Czech Republic.”Communist and Post-Communist Studies 43 (4): 439-451. 

Smith, Michael L. 2009. “The Inequality of Participation: Re-examining the Role of Social Stratification and Post-Communism on Political Participation in Europe.” Czech Sociological Review 45(3): 487-517. 

Matějů, Petr and Michael L. Smith. 2009. “The Perceived Value of Education and Educational Aspirations in the Czech Republic: Changes in the Determination of Educational Aspirations between 1989 and 2003.” Comparative Education Review 53(1): 13-39. https://doi.org/10.1086/593151. 

Veselý, Arnošt and Michael L. Smith. 2008. “Macro-Micro Linkages and the Role of Mechanisms in Social Stratification Research.” Czech Sociological Review 44 (3): 491-510. 

Matějů, Petr, Michael L. Smith and Josef Basl. 2008. “Rozdílné mechanismy – stejné nerovnosti. Změny v determinaci vzdělanostních aspirací mezi roky 1989 a 2003.” [Different Mechanisms, Same Inequalities – Changes in the Determination of Educational Aspirations, 1989-2003] Czech Sociological Review 44 (2): 371-399. 

Matějů, Petr, Petr Soukup, Michael L. Smith and Josef Basl. 2007. “The Determination of College Expectations in OECD Countries: The Role of Individual and Structural Factors.” Czech Sociological Review 43(7): 1121-1148. 

Smith, Michael L. 2006. “Unequal Chances in Education: Educational Inequalities in the Czech Republic” Czech Sociological Review 42(3): 591-598. 

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