Faculty & Staff

Biography

Bob Thomson completed his Ph.D. in Sociology at Baylor University in 2017 focusing on the intersection of crime, religion, and social inequality. He then worked at Rice University as a postdoctoral research fellow for the Religion and Public Life Program before joining the Department of Sociology at UAH in 2019. That same year, Dr. Thomson published a book, Secularity and Science: What Scientists Around the World Really Think About Religion (Oxford University Press) alongside several other scholars at Rice University. Dr. Thomson’s current research includes a grant-funded project titled, “Black or Blue? A Pilot Study of Religious and Political Sources of Moral Attitudes Towards Police and Protest.” This pilot study seeks to understand the perceptions of police and emerging protest movements—such as Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, Antifa, and white nationalism—among both black and white Christians in the US.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

• Ph.D., Sociology, Baylor University, 2017
• M.A., Sociology, Baylor University, 2014
• M.A., Theological Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary, 2012

Affiliations

• American Society of Criminology
• America Sociological Association
• Southern Sociological Society

Expertise

• Crime and Deviance
• Religion
• Social Stratification

Recent Publications

• 2019 Elaine Howard Ecklund, David R. Johnson, Brandon Vaidyanathan, Steven Lewis, Kristin Matthews, Robert A. Thomson Jr., and Di Di. Secularity and Science: What Scientists around the World Really Think about Religion. Oxford University Press.

• 2018 Robert A. Thomson Jr., Jerry Z. Park, and Diana Kendall. "Religious Conservatives and TV News: Are They More Likely to be Religiously Offended?" Social Problems. Online: doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spy024.

• 2018 Robert A. Thomson Jr. and Paul Froese. "God, Party, and the Poor: How Politics and Religion Interact to Affect Economic Justice Attitudes." Sociological Forum 33(2): 334-353.