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Land of Broken Promises: Classification Struggles and the Reorganization of Municipal Pensions in Detroit's Bankruptcy

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Land of Broken Promises: Classification Struggles and the Reorganization of Municipal Pensions in Detroit's Bankruptcy Land of Broken Promises: Classification Struggles and the Reorganization of Municipal Pensions in Detroit's Bankruptcy by Mikell Alexandra Hyman A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) in the University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Professor Greta Krippner, Co-Chair Professor Jason Owen-Smith, Co-Chair Associate Professor Robert Mickey Professor Mark Mizruchi Assistant Professor Alexandra Murphy Mikell Alexandra Hyman [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9259-7649 © Mikell Alexandra Hyman 2018 DEDICATION To Casey and to my folks, from Brooklyn to Detroit ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It seems fitting that a dissertation about bankruptcy should begin with an accounting of the debts incurred in the process of its creation. This accounting necessarily begins with my family and especially my parents. I have asked myself many times why I chose to write about Detroit, its bankruptcy, and its municipal retirees. Why did this moment of rupture and redefinition of people and place resonate? A first order answer is that my own sense of identity was indelibly shaped by my family’s economic status and the rapidly transforming city in which I was raised. Through many transitions my parents never stopped modelling curiosity, empathy, and adaptability. I am always impressed by my father’s boundless intellectual curiosity, decency, and irreverent sense of humor. I have tried to emulate my mother’s determination, creativity, and insightfulness. The gifts they have given me are immeasurable. For now, I thank them for providing unconditional love and support throughout the duration of this protracted process. I am also grateful to the rest of my family who always asked but never pried. I thank them for their love and support, and for being such a fun crew. I owe my uncle James special thanks for always asking to read my work, and for actually giving feedback on the one occasion that I agreed to share. My grandparents are among the most dynamic and fascinating people one could ever hope to know. In stressful moments, thinking about their experiences helps me to regain some perspective. My paternal grandmother, Anne, is one of my greatest friends. I always admired her love of reading. And while I used to find her penchant for striking up conversation with strangers embarrassing, this turned out to be one of my favorite pastimes. I must also count my blessings for having wonderful friends near and far who provide ample distraction and iii amusement. Special thanks are also in order to Larry and Sue, for their remarkable kindness and generosity, for feeding me on countless occasions, and helping us with a poorly timed move. I am particularly grateful to Casey whose unwavering support has been humbling. In difficult moments he helps me to laugh at myself in the kindest possible way and somehow gives me the impression that he still finds me charming. I could not ask for a more thoughtful or loving partner. His perpetual willingness to listen, discuss, strategize, edit have helped me to broach the finish line and to look forward to what lays beyond. I thank him for seeing the best in me and believing in me, even when I indulged in pessimism and self-doubt. And I cannot wait to embark on the next big adventure together. My Michigan story starts a long time ago, longer than I care to admit. Some of the experiences that I had as an undergraduate student in the Organizational Studies Program helped to activate my enthusiasm for research, and interest in organizational and economic sociology. Jason Owen-Smith, co-chair, taught the first class that I took in the program, a required course on macro organizational theory. Quite unexpectedly the material clicked. Some of the theories offered a novel yet intuitive lens on the world that expanded my thinking in exciting ways. It’s been a great privilege to continue working with Jason as a graduate student. He has been my advisor from the start and has stuck with me despite my tendency to “shave the yak,” and difficulty actualizing his many morsels of sage and pithy advice. Throughout this process Jason has been patient and supportive, and always willing to read a draft and provide feedback. His capacity to quickly render disparate abstractions into cogent ideas is astounding, and his turn of phrase always delights. I left every meeting wishing I had brought a recorder. I hope he knows that I was always listening and taking heed. iv The largest intellectual debt of this project is owed to Greta Krippner, co-chair, whose intellectualism inspires and intimidates. I have learned a great deal from Greta’s writing and instruction, both as a student in the comparative historical practicum and as a GSI for sociological theory, and not least of which in her office where she spent countless hours helping to guide me through this process. She has been both patient and encouraging through the duration of this project and provided trenchant feedback on innumerable drafts. On multiple occasions Greta has helped me to recognize when I have stumbled across an interesting idea, and for this I am especially grateful. Mark Mizruchi has been a wonderful mentor. I have probably clocked more facetime with Mark than with any other advisor over the years. I got to know Mark early on, because he taught both theory and statistics during the second semester of my first year. I also had an opportunity to work as a research assistant on his book project, which led to our co-authoring an article. I always felt like Mark was rooting for me, even when my interests took me in unexpected directions. Over the last few years, I’ve had the privilege of serving as a graduate student instructor for OS310, the course I took many years ago with Jason. This helped me in a material way as teaching positions became increasingly scarce in the department. But I also enjoyed staying connected to the terrific OS Program. I am excited to prep my own organizational sociology course one of these days. Alex Murphy helped me to start actually writing the dissertation. And it was her idea to use Goffman’s idea of cooling out. I owe her huge thanks on both counts. I’m very glad that I took Alex’s methods class both because it deepened my understanding of how to carry out qualitative research, but also because it gave me an opportunity to solicit her always brilliant feedback on a regular basis. Although the project wound up taking a less urbanist direction, Alex v provided invaluable methodical advice at several points. I met Rob late in the game, but in a relatively short amount of time Rob has far exceeded the duties of a cognate. He has been unquestioningly supportive, engaged and generous with his time. I am particularly thankful to him for helping me to begin getting oriented in certain literatures. Beyond my committee, many other faculty members have helped me at critical junctures and in-between moments. Special thanks to Elizabeth Armstrong, Sarah Burgard, Rob Jansen, Victoria Johnson, Anna Kirkland, Jared Levine, and Geneviève Zubrzycki. One of the best parts of this experience has been participating in the economic sociology workshop. This workshop has helped me develop my own intellectual intuitions, because it’s easy to get lost in an avalanche of good feedback. It is where I started to appreciate the art of giving and receiving feedback. And it helped me to think of arguments as clay pots rather than Fabergé eggs. Beyond this workshop, I have also benefited from the feedback of a number of friends and colleagues over the years: Dan Hirschman, Dana Kornberg, Camilo Leslie, Kelly Russell, Rick Rodems. I am especially grateful to Cheyney Dobson who provided crucial writing support in these past few months. I have benefited from the assistance of several bright and motivated undergraduate students: Kendall Brewer, Hannah Harshe, Nina He, and Eun Park. Most recently Hannah Harshe has been tenacious, resourceful, and detail-oriented in helping me to survey the legal status of public employee pensions across the United States. She has also been a willing avatar, making trips as far as an archive in Lansing to assess their holdings or as close as a campus library to look up a page number in a book. I am beyond grateful for her help. Nina He also provided indispensable assistance, particularly in assembling and cleaning several different data sets. I am also helpful to Eun Park and Kendall Brewer for helping to assemble and clean data. vi Thanks also to the staff members of the department who have helped me in various ways over the years: Zaineb Al-Kalby, Thea Bude, Jen Eshelman, Vicky Horvath, Jeannie Loughry, Jessica Parks Piatt, Evalyn Yanna. I am also fortunate to have had a home away from home at the University of Michigan Detroit Center. Alexis Ellis, Courtney Kezlarian, Gerrard Rayford, and Feodies Shipp graciously furnished me with office space, a bottomless supply of tea and good cheer. This research was supported by funding received through the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The University of Michigan also provided crucial financial support through grants from the Department of Sociology and the Rackham Graduate School. I was also supported by the Detroit City Study. The greatest debt is to those who in the course of this study allowed me to enter their lives, at times inviting me into their homes, and sharing with me their understandings and experiences of a difficult event. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF APPENDICES xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi ABSTRACT xv CHAPTER I.
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