Wade Clark Mackey (born 1946) is an American author and social scientist whose academic and professional research has spanned anthropology, criminal justice, criminology, psychology, and sociology. He is best known for his work on fatherhood, fathering behaviors, and the social consequences of father absence.
Early Life and Family
Born in 1946 in New Jersey, Mackey developed attachments to Virginia, Iowa, and Texas over the course of his career and private life. He married Bonnie Lee Watson of Norfolk, Virginia, in 1969, and they had three children: Shannon, Jennifer, and Michael. The couple divorced in 1995 while residing in Texas.
Education
- B.A. in Anthropology and Sociology, University of Virginia (1967)
- M.A. in Psychology, Louisiana State University (1970)
- Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Virginia (1976)
Career
Mackey taught at numerous institutions, including Jacksonville State University in Alabama (2007–2009), where he served in the Department of Criminal Justice before retiring. His teaching career also included positions at Cy-Fair College (Texas), North Harris College (Texas), Tomball College (Texas), the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Southeastern Community College (Iowa), El Paso Community College, Iowa Wesleyan College, Tarkio College (Missouri), South Dakota State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia's School of Continuing Education, Piedmont Community College (Virginia), Louisiana State University at Eunice, and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
One of his widely cited works is the article "Police Violence as a Function of Community Characteristics" (1977, co-authored with Richard R. E. Kania), published in Criminology. He revisited the topic in 2009 with Vance McLaughlin in Criminal Justice Studies. Both studies demonstrated strong correlations between police decision-making in deadly-force situations and features of the communities the police served.
His article "Violent Crime and the Loss of Fathers: Beyond the Long Arm" was included in The Cultural Shaping of Violence (Purdue University Press, 2004), edited by anthropologist Myrdene Anderson.
A frequent contributor to Mankind Quarterly, Mackey often co-authored with psychiatrist Dr. Ronald S. Immerman, exploring psychological aspects of human social evolution and cultural development.
The common thread in his work is the proposition that the role of the father in child development is far more important than is usually credited in contemporary family studies. Showing empirically that growing up fatherless often has negative social consequences for children, he has challenged social policies that sustain single-parent family arrangements, placing him at odds with some feminist scholars.
Research Grants and Fieldwork
Mackey received three Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation research grants (1977, 1980, 1989) and a National Science Foundation research grant (1974) to study adult-child behavior in public places. He was the 1985 Chadwick Distinguished Teacher of the Year at Iowa Wesleyan College.
He conducted extensive field research in Iceland (1977), Ireland (1980), Mexico (1975), and Spain (1974), and directed field research projects on adult-child interaction in Austria, Kenya, France, Great Britain, Brazil, Taiwan, Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, Morocco, India, Peru, Sri Lanka, and the Ivory Coast.
Selected Bibliography
- Fathering Behaviors (Plenum, 1985)
- The American Father (Plenum, 1996)
- Gender Roles, Traditions, and Generations to Come: The Collision of Competing Interests and the Feminist Paradox (with Nancy S. Coney, Nova Science Publishing, 2000)
- "Police Violence as a Function of Community Characteristics" (with Richard R. E. Kania, Criminology, 1977)
- "Violent Crime and the Loss of Fathers: Beyond the Long Arm" (in The Cultural Shaping of Violence, Purdue University Press, 2004)
- "The Presence of Fathers in Attenuating Young Male Violence: Dad as Social Palliative" (with Bonnie W. Mackey, Marriage & Family Review, 2003)
Since his retirement, Mackey has lived in Wilton, Iowa.
