Faculty profile details

Andrew C. Dawson

Associate Professor

Sociology

   York Hall C126
   416-736-2100 x 88383
   adawson@glendon.yorku.ca
   Andrew Dawson CV Website.pdf

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Glendon Campus of York University. I am a member of both the Graduate Program in Sociology and the Master’s in Public and International Affairs Program, and an Associate Editor of the Canadian Review of Sociology. In 2019-2020, I was a Visiting Scholar at Massey College, University of Toronto.

Originally from Alberta, I joined York University via Montreal, where I completed my MA and PhD in Sociology at McGill University, followed by a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Université de Montréal, jointly held between the Department of Political Science and CÉRIUM (the Centre for International Studies). My primary areas of research interest are political sociology, violence and development, with a focus on state legitimacy, political and social trust, democracy and the rule of law. I have pursued an empirical and cross-national research agenda in these fields that draws upon both quantitative and comparative historical methods. This research has been published in various sociology and social science journals, including the British Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Social Science History, World Development and Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.

Fields of Expertise

Political Sociology; Law and Society; Violence; Sociology of Development; Comparative Historical Sociology; Quantitative Methods.

Education

Postdoctoral Studies: Université de Montréal
Doctorate: McGill University
Masters: McGill University

Publications

Journal Articles

Wu, Cary and Andrew Dawson (forthcoming). “The Trump Effect? Right-wing Populism and Distrust in Voting by Mail in Canada.” Public Opinion Quarterly.

Dawson, Andrew and Isabel Krakoff (2024). “Political Trust and Democracy: The Critical Citizens Thesis Re-examined.” Democratization 31 (1): 90-112. DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2023.2257607; SSRN Pre-print: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4307936

Wu, Cary and Andrew Dawson (2022). “Why is Trust Lower in Quebec? A Cultural Explanation.” Canadian Review of Sociology 59 (3): 309-329. DOI: 10.1111/cars.12385; SSRN Pre-print: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3957969

Dawson, Andrew (2021). “The Achilles Heel of Democracy? A Macro Cross-National Assessment of the Correlates of State Legitimacy.” Social Science Research 97: 102574. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102574

Dawson, Andrew and Liam Swiss (2020). “Foreign Aid and the Rule of Law: Institutional Diffusion versus Legal Reach.” British Journal of Sociology 71 (4): 761-784. DOI: 10.1111/1468-4446.12752

Dawson, Andrew (2018). “Police Legitimacy and Homicide: A Macro-Comparative Analysis.” Social Forces 97 (2): 841-866. DOI: 10.1093/sf/soy043

Dawson, Andrew (2017). “The Belief in State Legitimacy and Homicide: A Cross-National Analysis.” The Sociological Quarterly 58 (4): 552-575. DOI: 10.1080/00380253.2017.1354732

Dawson, Andrew (2016). “Political Violence in Consolidated Democracies: The Development and Institutionalization of Partisan Violence in Late Colonial Jamaica (1938-1962).” Social Science History 40 (2): 185-218. DOI: 10.1017/ssh.2016.1

Dawson, Andrew (2013). “The Social Determinants of the Rule of Law: A Comparison of Jamaica and Barbados.” World Development 45: 314-324. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.12.016

Dawson, Andrew (2010). “State Capacity and the Political Economy of Child Mortality in Developing Countries Revisited: From Fiscal Sociology towards the Rule of Law.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 51 (6): 403-422. DOI: 10.1177/0020715210387522

Lange, Matthew and Andrew Dawson (2010). “Education and Ethnic Violence: A Cross-National Time-Series Analysis.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 16 (2): 216-239. DOI: 10.1080/13537113.2010.490758

Lange, Matthew and Andrew Dawson (2009). “Dividing and Ruling the World? A Statistical Test of the Effects of Colonialism on Postcolonial Civil Violence.” Social Forces 88 (2): 785-817. DOI: 10.1353/sof.0.0255

Grants

Research Grant (2017-2019)
The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
“An Analysis of the Long-Term Trajectories of Homicide Rates between the United States and Canada from the Mid-Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Century.”
Role: Principal Investigator

Insight Grant (2016-2021)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
“Developing Conformity: Foreign Aid and the Diffusion of Global Norms.”
Role: Research Collaborator
Principal Investigator: Dr. Liam Swiss, Department of Sociology, Memorial University

Languages

English
Français