Faculty

Office: 123 Manchester Hall
Telephone: (860) 486-8918
e-mail: wes.younts@uconn.edu

Biographical Statement:

Professionally, I am committed to developing and empirically testing abstract theories explaining a variety of basic group processes. Specifically, I am interested in the processes through which (a) deviance becomes legitimate and institutionalized within subcultures, (b) individuals and groups evaluate and react to procedural and distributive injustice, (c) power develops in exchange networks, and (d) external status characteristics generate social influence in groups. I am currently building an experimental research laboratory in Manchester Hall that will allow faculty and students to collaborate on cutting-edge group process research and beginning several research projects investigating deviance, legitimacy and injustice.

Personally, my partner, Reeni Brakefield, and I are committed to building harmonious and respectful relationships with both human and non-human animals. We have rescued and cared for over 100 abandoned and abused companion animals in the past 10 years. I enjoy down-to-earth conversation and music, and I especially dig listening to "jam-band" (e.g., Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic) and "new folk" music (e.g., Ani Difranco, Dan Bern, Greg Brown, Gillian Welch, etc.).

Education:

Ph.D., University of Iowa, 2003
M.A., University of Iowa, 1997
B.A., University of South Carolina, 1994

C. Wesley Younts and Charles W. Mueller. 2001. "Justice Processes: Specifying the Mediating Role of Perceptions of Distributive Justice." American Sociological Review 66: 125-145.

Jeffrey Lucas, C. Wesley Younts, Michael J. Lovaglia, and Barry Markovsky. 2001. "Lines of Power in Exchange Networks." Social Forces 80: 185-214.

Lisa Troyer, C. Wesley Younts and Will Kalkhoff. 2001. "Clarifying the Theory of Second-Order Expectations: The Correspondence Between Motives for Interaction and Actor Orientation toward Group Interaction." Social Psychology Quarterly 64: 128-45.