Published Research

​I research poverty, inequality, and social policy, largely in the United States but also internationally. Inequalities across different domains are intimately connected, so my research covers many topics. Click on each topic below for paper descriptions, full papers, and supplementary material.

Homelessness

Alongside rising housing costs and economic inequality, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area has rapidly increased in recent years. This increase in homelessness is especially visually apparent with the proliferation of tent encampments. Grounded in years of volunteer and personal experience, my newest research documents the growth of tent encampments in Oakland, California. Using a mixture of data sources, I examine how physical features of urban space, neighborhood characteristics, and interventions by the City of Oakland relate to the location, size, and stability of tent encampments over time. 

Peer-Reviewed Publication
  • Ryan Finnigan. Conditionally Accepted. "The Growth and Shifting Spatial Distribution of Tent Encampments in Oakland, California." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences​

Policy Brief

Unstable Work Hours and Schedules

Peer-Reviewed Publications
  • ​​Ryan Finnigan. 2018. “Varying Weekly Work Hours and Earnings Instability in the Great Recession.” Social Science Research 74: 96-107
  • Ryan Finnigan and Savannah Hunter. 2018. “Occupational Composition and Racial/Ethnic Inequalities in Varying Weekly Work Hours,” pp.165-193 in Research in the Sociology of Work, vol. 32, edited by Ethel Mickey and Adia Harvey Wingfield
  • Ryan Finnigan and Jo Mhairi Hale. 2018. “Working 9 to 5? Union Membership and Work Hours and Schedules.” Social Forces 4(1): 1541–1568​

​Policy Brief

Poverty and Hardship

Peer-Reviewed Publications
  • Ryan Finnigan and Kelsey D. Meagher. 2019. “Past Due: Combinations of Housing and Utility Hardship in the United States.” Sociological Perspectives 62(1): 96–119
  • Bill McCarthy, Angela Carter, Mikael Janson, Cecilia Benoit, and Ryan Finnigan. 2018. “Poverty, Material Hardship, and Mental Health among Workers in Three Frontline Service Occupations.” Journal of Poverty 22(4): 334-354
  • David Brady, Ryan Finnigan, and Sabine Huebgen. 2017. “Rethinking the Demographic Risks of Poverty: Prevalences and Penalties in Comparative Perspective.” American Journal of Sociology 123(3):740-786
  • Ryan Finnigan. 2014. “Racial and Ethnic Stratification in the Relationship between Homeownership and Self-Rated Health.” Social Science & Medicine 115:72-81
  • ​David Brady, Regina Baker, and Ryan Finnigan. 2013. “When Unionization Disappears: State-Level Unionization and Working Poverty in the U.S.” American Sociological Review 78(5):872-896

​​Policy Briefs​

Social Policy and Public Attitudes

Peer-Reviewed Publications
  • Tarik Abou-Chadi and Ryan Finnigan. 2019. “Rights for Same-Sex Couples and Attitudes toward Gays and Lesbians in Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 52(6): 868-895
  • David Brady and Ryan Finnigan. 2014. “Does Immigration Undermine Public Support for Social Policy?” American Sociological Review 79(1):17-42