University of Pennsylvania’s Elijah Anderson Wins the 2021 Stockholm Prize in Criminology

Elijah Anderson, the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of African American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2021 Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his groundbreaking urban ethnographies documenting violence and life in inner-city African American communities.

The Stockholm Prize in Criminology is an international prize established under the aegis of the Swedish Ministry of Justice and with major contributions from the Torsten Söderberg Foundation. First awarded in 2006, the prize recognizes outstanding achievements in criminological research or the application of research results to reduce crime and advance human rights.

In announcing the annual award, the Stockholm Prize in Criminology Foundation said that Professor Anderson’s scholarship “has considerably improved our understanding of the dynamics of interactions among young men and women that lead to violence, even among good friends. His years of immersion in street life in Chicago and Philadelphia provide a social microscope for observing and understanding the consequences of prejudice and blocked opportunities through the eyes of people growing up in those areas.”

As a doctoral student in the 1970s, Professor Anderson began studying street corner life at a local bar/liquor store located on Chicago’s South Side for his dissertation. He visited the same location nightly for nearly three years to gain a deeper understanding of the group of men he met there. This qualitative fieldwork provided the basis for his widely acclaimed first book, A Place on the Corner: A Study of Black Street Corner Men (University of Chicago Press, 1981) which vividly depicts how the men he observed maintained their social status in the eyes of the others, revealing a complex social order regulated in part by violence.

Professor Anderson’s fourth book, Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life (University of Chicago Press) will be published early next year.

Dr. Anderson holds a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

California State University Sacramento Launches Black Honors College

Officially launching for the fall 2024 semester, the Black Honors College will support students from all backgrounds who study Black history, life, and culture by providing them with a specialized curriculum and mentoring opportunities.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

In Memoriam: Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024

Dr. Anderson was the assistant vice president for research and academic affairs at Florida State University at the time of his death. He had an extensive career in clinical psychology, which led him to become the first African American chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association.

Georgia State University Launches Program to Support Black Women in Tech

While Black women account for roughly 29 percent of the Georgia State University undergradaute student body, they represent only 10 percent of the university's computer science majors and 18 percent of the computer information systems majors.

Featured Jobs