As a critical race theorist, I investigate how racism works, from the womb to the tomb, to disadvantage blacks and privilege whites. Mechanisms of racism include interactions across interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels, implicating the mundane and extraordinary in the maintenance of white supremacy. In my quantitative research, I avoid attempting to explain away the race coefficient, instead highlighting heterogeneity within black populations thereby demonstrating that race is socially constructed and represents shared experiences, attitudes, and beliefs. Using survey data from community-based samples, I am currently examining the mental health significance of racial discrimination, the social construction of race in Brazil, race socialization during childhood, the epidemiology of racial trauma, the psychological wages of whiteness, and culturally-specific conceptualizations of mental health. I have secured funding from various federal agencies to support my program for research.

I earned my Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and completed postdoctoral training at Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Before joining Rice University in 2016, I was tenured in the sociology department at Vanderbilt University. While there, I co-edited the American Sociological Review, served as the inaugural Faculty Head of Hank Ingram House in the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, and held appointments in numerous departments and programs across the main and medical campuses.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

Brown, Tony N., Quintin Gorman, Jr., Julian Culver, and Asia Bento. Forthcoming. “Four More Years! or So What? The Mental Health Significance of Barack Obama’s 2012 Presidential Re-Election among Black Adults.” Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X24000043

Brown, Tony N., Quintin Gorman, Jr., Autumn Raynor, Asia Bento, Julian Culver, and Jauhara Ferguson. 2024. “Wakanda Forever! Consistency in Correlates of Black Nationalist Tendencies.” Social Science Quarterly 105(4):1224-1238. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13388

Gorman, Jr., Quintin, Tony N. Brown, and Julian Culver. 2023. “My Commander in Chief is Black! The Mental Health Significance of Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Election for Military Veterans.” Armed Forces & Society 49(3):846-865. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X221082211

Brown, Tony N., Julian Culver, Asia Bento, and Quintin Gorman, Jr. 2023. “Changes in Racial Apathy among White Young Adults: A Five-Year National Panel Study.” Sociological Inquiry 93(1):35-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12498

Brown, Tony N., Asia Bento, Julian Culver, Raul Casarez, and Horace J. Duffy III. 2022. “Intergroup Contact and White Racial Apathy: Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR).” Sociological Perspectives 65(6):1188-1207. https://doi.org/10.1177/07311214221104041

Brown, Tony N., Chase L. Lesane-Brown, Rachell Davis, and Michael Carroll. 2022. “Viral Racism via Videos: A Study of Asian Americans’ Experiences of Interpersonal Discrimination Because of COVID-19.” Social Currents 9(5):486-505. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294965221098973