Michael Paul Johnson (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, WomenâÂÂs Studies, and African and African American Studies at Penn State, where he taught sociology and womenâÂÂs studies for over thirty years and was designated an Alumni Teaching Fellow, Penn StateâÂÂs highest teaching award. He is an internationally recognized expert on domestic violence, invited to speak at conferences and universities throughout the United States and around the world.
His research focuses on the implications of differentiating among types of violence in intimate relationships, and he has consulted regularly with community organizations and government agencies regarding domestic violence policy and practice. He is widely published in scholarly journals, and his major work on domestic violence is presented in A Typology of Domestic Violence: Intimate Terrorism, Violent Resistance, and Situational Couple Violence (Northeastern University Press, 2008). Although he retired from Penn State in 2005 and from consulting in 2015, he still writes occasionally when opportunity knocks.
Johnson obtained his BA degree in sociology from Knox College (Galesburg, Illinois) (1965), his MA in sociology from the University of Iowa (1969), and his PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan (1974).
In 1981 a long-term study of courtship and marriage of 168 couples was implemented by Ted Huston. The project began at Penn State and was intended to last through the first two and a half years of marriage, but it was extended and extra waves of data were collected. In 1985 the project transferred to the University of Texas at Austin and a follow-up set of interviews with the participants took place in 1991. Johnson has been a collaborator on the PAIR project since its early days, with a particular interest in 'conceptions of commitment'.
Johnson argues that there are four major types of intimate partner violence, a finding supported by some but rejected by others. The types of violence identified by Johnson are:
Johnson describes his definition of feminism as:
Johnson is retired and living in the foothills of the Appalachians with his partner Maureen; he also has two children (Jennifer and Bryan) and a grandchild (Michael).