Alford Young, Jr.

Alford A. Young, Jr. is Edgar G. Epps Collegiate Professor of Sociology, Afroamerican and African Studies, and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan. His primary area of research focuses on low-income African American men, particularly how they construct understandings of various aspects of social reality. Among other work, Young has published The Minds of Marginalized Black Men: Making Sense of Mobility, Opportunity, and Future Life Chances (Princeton University Press 2004), Are Black Men Doomed? (Polity Press 2018), and From the Edge of the Ghetto: African Americans and the World of Work (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2019). Young has also researched how African American scholars conceive of the social utility of race-focused scholarship, and how higher education faculty who are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion take account of their teaching experiences. Finally, Young coordinates the Scholars Network on Masculinity and the Well-Being of African American Men, an assembly of mid-career scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and professional fields who aspire to influence social policy and broader public understanding of the condition of African American men.