Department of Sociology

Jon Gordon is an urban sociologist and ethnographer whose research focuses on violence, crime, and gender in marginalized communities. He is currently working on his first book, which follows a criminalized group of men who engaged in violence, operated drug markets, and worked with residents to push forward a vision of change in their community in Medellín, Colombia. In another project, Jon and colleagues advance a generative analytic strategy to show how a significant portion of mass shootings are better understood as rampage attacks on communities. Jon enjoys mentoring research active students and has collaborated on several projects, including an examination of how Mom Influencers and their audience engage in feminist consciousness-raising within the comments on monetized TikTok posts. In his classes, Jon pushes students to see research literacy as a skillset that can be leveraged to advance their careers and navigate the challenges that emerge in their day-to-day lives.

Courses Taught

• SOC 2850: Constructions of Gender
• SOC 3340: Criminology
• SOC 3345: Communities and Crime
• SOC 4450: Senior Capstone

Research Interests

• Community and Urban Sociology
• Crime
• Ethnography
• Gender
• Violence

Recent Publications

Russell, D., Gordon, J., & Thames, K. M. (2025). The New Social Roots of School Shootings: A Refined Constellation Theory of Rampage Attacks. Socius.

Gordon, Jon. 2020. “The Legitimation of Extrajudicial Violence in an Urban Community.” Social Forces, 98(3):1174-95.