PhD, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 2014

Race & Racism, Black Families, Poverty & Material Hardship, Stress & Health, Quantitative Methods (longitudinal and dyadic analyses)

• SOCI 311: Family
• SOCI 343: Race & Ethnicity
• SOCI 466: Special Topics – Issues in Race/Ethnicity

Deadric Williams is a quantitative sociologist whose work centers on the ideological and structural complexities of American racism. His research program is uniquely defined by the integration of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit) across both theoretical and empirical studies. At the core of Williams’ theoretical contributions is the call for an epistemological corrective in the sociological study of racism and race. He argues that traditional research often treats “race” as a static demographic variable rather than a product of “racism.” To address this, his work critiques conventional frameworks and proposes a shift in focus toward three key dimensions: (1) racism as a system; (2) racism as processes (e.g., racialization); and (3) racism as differential experiences. Substantively, his research focuses on poverty and population health, where he uses advanced quantitative methods to demonstrate how systemic racism functions as a fundamental cause of poverty, material hardship, and health disparities.

Peer-review publications

• Williams, Deadric T. 2024. Racial disparities without racism: Some conceptual & analytical considerations. Sociology Compass, 18(2), e13182.
• Williams, Deadric T. 2023. Racism and the mechanisms maintaining racial stratification in Black families. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 15(2), 206-218.
• Williams, Deadric T., & Baker, Regina. S. 2021. Family structure, risks, and racial stratification in poverty. Social Problems, 68(4), 964-985.
• Williams, Deadric T. and Armon R. Perry. 2019. More than Just Incarceration: Law Enforcement Contact and Black Fathers’ Familial Relationships. Issues in Race & Society
• Williams, Deadric T. and Gilbert R. Parra. 2019. The Longitudinal and Bidirectional Association between Parenting Stress & Couples’ Relationship Quality. Personal Relationships 26: 713-732
• Williams, Deadric T. 2019. A Call to Focus on Racial Domination and Oppression: A Response to ‘Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Poverty and Affluence, 1959-2015. Population Research and Policy Review 38: 655–663
• Williams, Deadric. T., Marissa Cardwell*, & Laura Simon. 2019. Black Intimacies Matter: How Cumulative Risk, Family Status, and Gender Shapes Relationship Quality among Black Parents. Journal of African American Studies 23: 1-17.

Book Chapters

• Williams, D. T., Sanner, C., Jensen, T., & Simon, L. 2022. Racism, family structure, and Black families. In Families as They Really Are. Norton.
• Williams, Deadric T. 2020. Rethinking Black Families in Poverty: Postcolonial Critiques and Critical Race Possibilities. In Introduction to Africana Demography: Lessons from Founders E. Franklin Frazier, W.E.B. Du Bois and the Atlanta School of Sociology. Editor: Lori L. Martin.
• Williams, Deadric. T., Bridget Goosby, and Jacob E. Cheadle. 2020. Stress Related Biomarkers Methods in Family Research. In Sourcebook on Family Theories and Methodologies. Editors: Kari Adamsons, April Few-Demo, Chris Proulx, and Kevin Roy.