Department of Sociology

Jon Gordon is an urban sociologist and ethnographer whose research focuses on violence, crime, and gender in marginalized communities. He received his PhD in Sociology from New York University in 2021. 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 a second project, Jon and student research assistants examine how faculty and students co-construct meanings of
inclusion in the classroom.  Jon empowers students to see themselves as “producers of knowledge.” Students in his courses, like Criminology and Constructions of Gender, carry out original research and apply sociological concepts to make sense of the social world and the puzzles that emerge within their day-to-day lives.

Research & Teaching Interests

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

Publications

2020    "The Legitimation of Extrajudicial Violence in an Urban Community.” Social Forces, 98(3):1174-1195.  *Award for Best Article, ASA Section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict.