Spivak

Andrew L. Spivak

1972 - 2021
Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Areas of Expertise:

Andrew Spivak passed away on January 25, 2021. Read his obituary here.

About Andrew

From 1997 to 2008, Spivak worked for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections - beginning as a correctional officer and later serving as a prison case manager and finally as a research analyst. Spivak currently teaches courses in criminology, penology, research methods, statistics, and demography, and supervises a sociology student internship program in cooperation with the Nevada Department of Corrections. In 2010, he received University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ William Morris Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has published two books and eleven peer-reviewed journal articles, served as co-principal investigator on three research grants, authored numerous technical reports, and served as an expert witness consultant in Oklahoma, California, and Nevada state courts. 

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Contributions

How a Bold Public Official in the Conservative Heartland Won an Improbable Victory over Big Tobacco

  • Michael Givel
Key Findings Brief,

Publications

"Heartland Tobacco War" (with Michael Givel) (Lexington Books, 2013).
Chronicles the political and public relations battles between health advocates and forces supported by the tobacco industry in Oklahoma from the 1980s to the present.
"American Pragmatism and Bureaucratic Advocacy: A State-Level Case of Public Agency Rulemaking and Tobacco Control Policy" (with Michael Givel). Public Integrity 14, no. 1 (2012): 5-18.

Presents a case study of the Oklahoma Department of Health’s effort to join with public health advocacy groups in order to regulate second-hand tobacco smoke. Details how this action was congruent with the American Society of Public Administration's Code of Ethics for interactive democratic policymaking, in which administrators are required to serve the public interest with compassion, benevolence, fairness, and optimism.

"Reconsidering Race, Class, and Residential Segregation in American Cities" (with Loretta E. Bass and Craig St. John). Urban Geography 32, no. 4 (2011): 531-567.
Expands on prior research by examining residential segregation between black-alone and white-alone households in 36 metropolitan statistical areas with 2000 decennial census data. While race remains a primary determinant of residential segregation, results indicate substantial class differences.
"Sexual Violence: Beyond the Feminist-Evolutionary Debate" (LFB Scholarly Publishing, 2011).
Examines the history of the controversy over whether sex offenders’ motives are sexual, nonsexual, or both, and then evaluates national victim survey and police data to test hypotheses about victim-targeting in rape incidents. Finds that offenders may be more sexually motivated than implied by some feminist assertions, since they appear to specifically target younger victims, but these facts are explainable within a criminological framework that does not require a direct evolutionary adaptation.
"Religiosity, Delinquency, and the Deterrent Effects of Informal Sanctions" (with Miyuki Fukushima, Margaret S. Kelley, and Tiffany Sanford Jenson). Deviant Behavior 32, no. 8 (2011): 677-711.
Looks at the influence of religiosity and social deterrence on college students' delinquent behavior, as measured by anticipated violation of a university's alcohol policy. Religiosity increased perceived threats of shame and embarrassment, which in turn reduced the likelihood of anticipated policy violation; when controlling for demographics, college lifestyle, attitudes, and past drinking behavior, shame remained a significant predictor of expected policy violation, but embarrassment did not.