Elijah Anderson (sociologist)

Elijah Anderson is an American sociologist and a Stockholm Prize Laureate for his pioneering research in criminology. He is currently the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of Black Studies at Yale University, where he directs the Urban Ethnography Project. He is one of the leading urban ethnographers and cultural theorists in the United States.

Previously, Anderson taught at Swarthmore College (1973–75) as an assistant professor of sociology before joining the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught for thirty-two years, rising from assistant professor to associate professor with tenure in 1981, to full professor as the Max and Heidi Berry Term Professor in 1989, the Charles and William Day Professor in 1991, and the Charles and William Day Distinguished Professor in 1995.

In 2007, Anderson joined the Yale faculty as the William K. Lanman, Jr., Professor of Sociology and in 2018, he was appointed the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of African American Studies