Dr. Anthony Jerome Stone Jr. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at The University of Memphis. Dr. Stone holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Cincinnati (2023), a Master of Arts in Sociology from The University of Memphis, and a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University in Political Science, Pre-Law.
Dr. Stone is an adherent of Black Sociology who relies on interdisciplinary knowledges to address sociological questions. His research examines how minoritized populations make sense or meaning of their lived experiences, racial memory, identities, and social inequality across institutions and practices—most recently centering around how Black men respond to, resist, and use racially gendered media representations. Currently, Dr. Stone’s research agenda is focused in three areas: (1) How Black men think about the relationship between their identities and the Black men they see in film, (2) the sociology of knowledge as it relates to how social science research approaches Black populations, including historical figures, and (3) how racialized communities understand and derive meaning from the various aspects of their lives.
His research has been published in Information, Communication, & Society, Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, Studies in Symbolic Interaction, and the Journal of Communication & Religion. His co-edited book Sociology and Hip Hop: An Anthology is available from Cognella (2021).
Dr. Stone’s areas of expertise include Race & Racisms, Social Psychology, Sociology of Media & Culture, Gender, and Qualitative Methods.
He teaches undergraduate courses, including Racial/Ethnic Minorities and Hip Hop & Sociology. At the graduate level, Dr. Stone teaches the Urban Theory Seminar, Black Sociology, and Media Sociology.
Publications
Toney, Kierra N., and Anthony J. Stone Jr. Forthcoming. “Between Pride and Pity: Black Students' Affect and Cultural Mistrust of U.S. History Curricula.” In Impacts of Cultural Mistrust in Education, Work, and Identity Politics, edited by C. Sloss and M. Grier. Hershey, PA: IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
Stone Jr., Anthony J., Madeline Arriaza, Claire Brindley, Elliot Meador, Wesley James, and Karen Matthews. 2025. “‘You’re Not Dealing with What We’re Dealing with’: COVID-19 Hesitancies and Motivations Among Late Vaccinating Black Americans in the Deep South.” Online. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02479-6
Stone Jr., Anthony J. 2025. “‘Cuz This is What it Feels Like’: Black Men’s Affective Decodings and Reflections of Film.” Information, Communication, & Society. 29(1): 289-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2508937
Wright II, Earl, Kierra Toney, Keri Eason, and Anthony J. Stone Jr. (eds.). 2021. Sociology and Hip Hop: An Anthology (1st edition). San Diego, CA: Cognella.
Stone Jr., Anthony J. and Carol Rambo. 2021. “Surviving Racism & Genocide: Native American Caricature Iconography and Racial Formation Projects.” Pp. 91-115 in Studies in Symbolic Interaction Vol. 54, edited by N.K. Denzin and S.L. Chen. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Johnson, Andre E. and Anthony J. Stone Jr. 2018. "The Most Dangerous Negro in America: Rhetoric, Race and the Prophetic Pessimism of Martin Luther King Jr." Journal of Communication & Religion, 41(1): 8-22.