Alford A. Young Jr. is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and former Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan. He also holds appointments in the Department of Afro -American and African Studies and the Ford School of Public Policy. Al has degrees from Wesleyan University (BA) and the University of Chicago (MA and Ph.D.). His research mostly focused on how low-income African-American men understand themselves and their social worlds. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Carla O’Connor, and two sons.