Amy Bailey

Amy Bailey is an Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology.  Dr. Bailey earned her PhD in sociology from the University of Washington in 2008.  She spent two years as an NIH-funded postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University, and joined the Utah State University faculty in 2010. 

Dr. Bailey’s research interests focus on race and social inequality.  Her dissertation examined the effects of veteran status on social mobility and migration patterns among American men.  Her current, related projects explore the role of veterans’ migration on redistribution of the U.S. population, and the distinct ways in which veteran status interacts with race and ethnicity to influence onward and return migration.  With Devah Pager (Princeton University), she is researching the combined effects of enlistment and incarceration on communities with high rates of institutional sending.

Dr. Bailey is also interested in historical patterns of lynching in the American South.  With Stewart E. Tolnay (University of Washington) and E.M. Beck (University of Georgia), she created a database of the individual and family characteristics of lynch victims, using historical census enumerators’ manuscripts, and has a series of papers in process based on this work.  With Karen Snedker (Seattle Pacific University), she is also researching the links between the local religious economy and racial violence.