Faculty & Staff

Steven R. Cureton

Professor & Department Head
PhD, Washington State University, 1997

Office: 337B Graham
Phone: 336-908-2550
Email: srcureto@uncg.edu

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

My research continues to focus on African-Americans’ life chances, behavioral outcomes, and issues related to equity and justice. My research methodology is ethnographic, with a focus on disciplined content analysis of the race variable. Specifically, my current research concerns; (1) the impact of leadership failures and black flight on black  neighborhoods and gangsterism; (2) the evolution of black vanguards to black street gangs; (3) the performance of black masculinity within the context of deviant and violent subcultures and ganglands; and (4) the transpersonal and quasi spirituality of black gangsterism. My future research agenda will concentrate on the relationship between race and sports.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY:

My teaching is geared towards teaching sociology in a manner that has life course applicability. Fundamentally, my goal is to relate theoretical perspectives and concepts to students’ structural, economic and cultural realties and/or immediate situational circumstances so that they identify with what they are learning. The intensity of identification enhances retention and provides a sound foundation for a connection to larger sociological phenomenon, which forces them to move from the personally subjective frame of reference to a more social scientific standard of thought. Courses Taught: Sociology of Deviant Behavior, Juvenile Delinquency, Contemporary Gangs in America, African-American Perspectives on Crime, and African-American Social Thought.

SERVICE:

Serving on committees at the department, college, and university levels has uncovered an interest in assessment, university governance, and administration (relative to faculty development, student recruitment and retention, academic quality and diversity above and beyond numerical integration). Mentoring on campus is another primary focus as I serve as advisor for Alpha Delta Zeta, the undergraduate chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated on the campus of UNCG (chartered in 2004). Additionally, participating in Leadership Greensboro has emphasized the importance of community outreach.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

Cureton, Steven (2021). Liberation Movements and Black-on-Black Survival Love: It’s No Ordinary Love. New York: Peter Lang.

Cureton, Steven (2020). Racial Reconciliation: Black Masculinity, Societal Indifference, and Church Socialization. New York: Peter Lang.

Cureton, Steven (2019).  The Social Construction of Black Masculinity: An Ethnographic Study. New York: Peter Lang.

Cureton, Steven (2019). Hoovers and Night Crawlers: When Outside In Becomes Inside Out. In Ransaw and Gause (eds.) Handbook of Research on Black Males. Michigan: Michigan State Press.

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENT:

• Greensboro Chamber of Commerce Sponsored: Graduate of Leadership, Class of 2013; and Graduate of Other Voices, Class of  2017