Michael F. Thompson

Michael completed his PhD qualifying exams in political sociology and his minor in Latin American & Caribbean studies. He completed his MA thesis on contemporary social movements by collecting original survey data at protests along with fellow graduate students. His dissertation research focuses on the impact of democratic institutions, as well as economic, demographic and interstate factors, on the relative success or failure of anti-inequality legislation among states within the US.

Michael has enjoyed teaching introductory and political sociology courses here at IU-Bloomington as well as at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC). Currently he serves as a research analyst for the Indiana Business Research Center and conducts projects for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development in Indianapolis.Though born in New York, Michael grew up in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad & Tobago. He returned to the US for college at Yale and spent a few years doing social work in New York City and business research in Trinidad before joining IU Sociology. Michael lives in Bloomington with his wife Laila Amine (also a PhD student) and enjoys high school volunteering, swimming and music from across the globe.