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Danziger discusses use of IRS data in trend analyses of income distribution
Highlights
Research Professor position in international family demography, PSC/SRC
Pamela Smock elected president of the Association of Population Centers
Elisha Renne awarded Guggenheim Fellowship for African studies
Bob Groves leaving Census Bureau for Georgetown University
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Arland Thornton
Affiliated Programs:
Developmental Idealism Studies
Funded Research:
A Supplemental Request for In-depth Data Analysis and Source Book Construction (NSF)
Cross-national Variations and Trends in Islamic Fundamentalism (ONR)
Demography, Family, and Developmental Idealism in the World’s Textbooks (Freedman)
Determinants of Marriage and Childbearing Attitudes (NICHD)
Developmental Idealism (Hermalin)
Developmental Idealism (PSC Initiatives Fund)
Developmental Idealism Workshop (Freedman)
Documenting Distribution and Trends of Developmental Idealism in Nepali Textbooks (PSC Initiatives Fund)
Ideational Influences on Marriage and Childbearing (NICHD)
Innovative Methods for Obtaining Survey Data from Migrants (NICHD)
Intergenerational Influences on Family Formation in a Changing Social Context (NICHD)
Migrants to the Gulf Cooperation Countries: Values, Behaviors, and Plans (Georgetown University)
Television and International Family Change: A Randomized Experiment (NICHD)
Research Professor, Population Studies Center.
Professor, Sociology.
Research Professor, Survey Research Center.
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Arland Thornton is Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, where he is also a Research Professor at the Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center. He is a social demographer who has served as president of the Population Association of America and currently holds a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health. For much of his career, Thornton has focused on the study of family and demographic issues, with a particular emphasis on marriage, cohabitation, divorce, childbearing, intergenerational relations, and gender roles. He has received four awards for his books as well as a distinguished career award from the American Sociological Association. During the past decade Thornton has devoted considerable time and energy studying developmental idealism and its influence in many areas of the world. His 2001 presidential address to the Population Association of America focused on this topic, as does his award-winning book entitled Reading History Sideways: the Fallacy and Enduring Impact of the Developmental Paradigm on Family Life. Of particular importance for Thornton’s current work are the ways in which values, beliefs, and people have been and are being distributed around the world. His work (in collaboration with others) has involved conceptualization, measurement, and analysis of data from several countries, including Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Malawi, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, the U.S., and Vietnam.
Recent Publications
Books
Jayakody, Rukmalie, Arland Thornton, and William Axinn. (Eds). 2008. International Family Change: Ideational Perspectives. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum. Abstract.
Thornton, Arland, William Axinn, and Yu Xie. 2007. Marriage and Cohabitation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Abstract.
Thornton, Arland. 2005. Reading History Sideways: the Fallacy and Enduring Impact of the Developmental Paradigm on Family Life. Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press. Abstract.
Journal Articles
Xie, Yu, Arland Thornton, Guangzhou Wang, and Qing Lai. Forthcoming. "Societal Projection: Beliefs Concerning the Relationship between Development and Inequality in China." Social Science Research. NIHMSID: NIHMS369809. DOI.
Thornton, Arland, Georgina Binstock, Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi, Dirgha Ghimire, Arjan Gjonca, Attila Melegh, Colter Mitchell, Mansoor Moaddel, Yu Xie, Li-Shou Yang, Linda Young-DeMarco, and Kathryn Yount. Forthcoming. "Knowledge and Beliefs about National Development and Developmental Hierarchies: the Viewpoints of Ordinary People in Thirteen Countries." Social Science Research. NIHMSID: NIHMS368187. DOI.
Abbasi-Shavazi, Mohammad Jalal, Abbas Askari-Nodoushan, and Arland Thornton. Forthcoming. "Family Life and Developmental Idealism in Yazd, Iran." Demographic Research. NIHMSID: NIHMS366411.
Melegh, Attila, Arland Thornton, Dimiter Philipov, and Linda Young-DeMarco. Forthcoming. "Perceptions of societal developmental hierarchies in Europe and beyond: A Bulgarian Perspective." European Sociological Review. NIHMSID: NIHMS351012. DOI.
Thornton, Arland, Georgina Binstock, Kathryn M. Yount, Mohammad Abbasi-Shavazi, Dirgha Ghimire, and Yu Xie. 2012. "International Fertility Change: New Data and Insights from the Developmental Idealism Framework." Demography, 49(2): 677-698. PMCID: PMC3328099. DOI. Abstract.
Thornton, Arland. 2009. "Framework for Interpreting Long-Term Trends in Values and Beliefs Concerning Single-Parent Families." Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(2): 230-234. DOI. Abstract.
Thornton, Arland, and Dimiter Philipov. 2009. "Sweeping Changes in Marriage, Cohabitation and Childbearing in Central and Eastern Europe: New Insights from the Developmental Idealism Framework." European Journal of Population, 25: 123-156. Reprint No. 615. PMCID: PMC2690230. DOI. Abstract. PDF.