Ronald Edward Brown
Professor
313-577-2630
313-993-3435 (fax)
656 West Kirby St.
2013 Faculty/Administration Building
Department
Ronald Edward Brown
Research interest(s)/area of expertise
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Religion and politics
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Urban politics
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Detroit politics
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Political dissent
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Race and politics
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Race and political identification in the United States and the Republic of South Africa in the 21st Century
Research
An ongoing research interest evolve around the covenant civil religious tradition, activism, and challenges of progressive clergy and activists. A persistent finding, in both survey research as well, sermons, and clerical interviews is that the willingness to strive toward racial justice among civil rights activists inspires white progressive clergy to engage in social justice activism.
A new collaborative research project with R. Khari Brown, Department of Sociology, explores the relative influence of fiscal resources on the potential of environmental and criminal justice congregational activism.
Finally, I am building the foundation to explore the influence that race as well as racialized identities have on the perceptions of procedural and substantive democracy among university students at Wayne State University and the University of Pretoria, South Africa. The project is in collaboration with colleagues in the Department of Political Science, the Univeristy of Pretoria.
Education
Ph.D. in SociologyAwards and grants
- National Science Foundation, “The National Politics Study,” Co-Principal Investigator, with James Jackson, University of Michigan, (Principal Investigator), Cara J. Wong, University of Illinois, (co-principal investigator), Vincent Hutchings, University of Michigan, (co-principal investigator), July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2007, $375,000
- The Wayne State University Board of Governors, Annual Faculty Recognition of Honor in Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship and Learning, April 28, 2023 (Ronald Brown and R. Khari Brown)
News mentions
Selected publications
- Ronald E. Brown, Davin Phoenix, and James S. Jackson, “Turning the Wheels: Striving and Black American Social Identity in the 21st Century”, National Political Science Review, A Publication of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, Volume 20.2, pp.129-148. 2019
- R. Khari Brown, Edward Eschler, Ronald E. Brown, "Political Congregations, Race, & Environmental Policy Attitudes," Manuscript ID JSSR-OA-08-2019-179, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, (Accepted for publication, August 2020)
- R. Khari Brown, Ronald E. Brown, Angela Kaiser, Race, Religious Tradition, and Environmental Conservation, Race, Religious Tradition, and Environmental Conservation, Sociology of Religion, sraa028, https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sraa028, September 22, 2020
- R. Khari Brown, Ronald Brown, and James S. Jackson, Race, Religion and Politics in America, University of Michigan Press
- R. Khari Brown, Ronald E. Brown, and James S. Jackson, Race and the Power of Sermons on American Politics, Ann Arbor, University Press, 2021
- R. Khari Brown and Ronald E. Brown, “What Americans hear about Social Justice at church-and what they do about it.” November 18, 2021. https://theconversation.com/what-americans-hear-about-social-justice-at-church-and-what they-do-about-it-168713
- R. Khari Brown, Berkley Franz, and Ronald E. Brown, “Religious and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Flu and COVID-19 Vaccination Intentions”. Conditional Acceptance, Decision on Manuscript ID USFO-2022- 0013.R1Sociological Focus, September 2022
- Ronald E. Brown and R. Khari Brown, Book Talk: Race and the Power of Sermons on American Politics, by R. Khari Brown, Ronald E. Brown, and James S. Jackson, (2021, University of Michigan Press) Response to Calvin E. Smidt. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, Volume 18, Article 9, ISSN 1556-3723, August 2022