Acknowledgments
This book started out seven years ago at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has been helped along the way by my family, friends, and colleagues. The faculty and graduate students at UNC provided insight, support, and encouragement in getting this project off the ground. Virginia Gray chaired my dissertation committee and provided expert guidance from beginning to end. Virginia knew when to push my writing, knew what aspects of the project needed sharpening, and encouraged me to pursue a book contract. Frank Baumgartner delivered sage advice on the first article to come out of the project and has been extraordinarily helpful and supportive of my early career. Jim Stimson urged me to expand the scope of the project and introduced me to time series analysis. Tom Carsey commented on numerous versions of the dissertation and pushed me to center my argument within the context of existing theories of political parties. I would like to thank Michele Hoyman for her continued friendship and unquestioned support for my career throughout the years. Mike MacKuen, George Rabinowitz, Nate Kelly, John Stephens, and Chris Ellis all provided discerning advice about the project through conversations inside and outside Hamilton Hall. The UNC political science department provided financial support for me to collect data and work on this project during the summer months of graduate school through the Thomas M. Ulhman Award, the James W. Prothro Award, and the American Politics Research Group (APRG). Finally, I’m ever grateful for my friends at UNC who provided emotional support and general good times, including Patrick McHugh, Micah Weinberg, Luke Berchowitz, Joel Winkelman, Heather Sullivan, Ryan Bakker, Patrick Wohlfarth, Peter Enns, Jennifer Weaver, and Jamie Monogan.
This book would not have been possible without the pathbreaking work of Christopher Howard, Jacob Hacker, Suzanne Mettler, Andrea Louise Campbell, Theodore Lowi, Larry Bartels, Martin Gilens, Paul Pierson, Joe Soss, Larry Jacobs, and Theda Skocpol. Their collective work inspired me to pursue a larger project at the intersection of social policy and income inequality. I would also like to thank the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation for providing copies of early bluebooks that I used to construct my data set and answering questions about data methodology. I have presented various segments of this book at the annual conferences of the America Political Science Association, the Midwestern Political Science Association, and the Western Political Science Association. Additionally, I have received valuable feedback from presentations at the American Politics Research Group at UNC, the Political Methods Workshop at UNC and Duke, The Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia.
The community of faculty and graduate students at The Maxwell School at Syracuse University has been extraordinarily helpful in providing guidance and support for the final stages of the book project. First, I appreciate the feedback I received on latter chapters presented at Political Science Research Workshop (PSRW), the Campbell Institute, and Moynihan Research Group. I received feedback from Len Burman, Matt Cleary, Brian Taylor, Tom Keck, Shana Gadarian, Jon Hanson, Dan McDowell, Sarah Pralle, Quinn Mulroy, Seth Jolly, Kristi Anderson, Hans Schmitz, Gavan Duffy, and Jeff Stonecash. Also, I’d like to thank Taewoo Kang at Washington State University along with Brian Wolfel, Whitney Baillie and Brandon Metroka at Syracuse University for their invaluable work as research assistants.
The anonymous reviewers at Cambridge University Press and elsewhere provided thoughtful comments that markedly improved the organization and substance of the book. Also, I’d like to thank Robert Dressen and the production team at Cambridge University Press for their professionalism in guiding the book through the production stages.
Finally, this book would not have come to fruition without the love and support of my family. My parents have provided encouragement, patience, and unconditional love throughout my life. I’m forever grateful for all the opportunities that their lives and love have brought me. My siblings, Nikki and Peter, have motivated my work in varied but important ways and inspired me more than they will ever know. My nephew, Parker, has taught me the meaning of courage and his experience navigating the medical system has heightened my sense of urgency in studying American social policy. Finally, my lovely and talented wife Lauren has been understanding and sympathetic of all the ups and downs involved in the writing process. Her uncompromising love has nourished me and I’m so blessed to have her and Nathan in my life.
