Reuben (Jack) Thomas

Associate Professor

Education

Ph.D. Stanford University 2009

Research Interests

Social Networks

Interpersonal Relationships, Homophily/Segregation/ Boundaries

Research Statement:

I study interpersonal social networks, their origins, and how they are related to other social phenomena. My research to date has looked at how people meet their friends and romantic partners, how that affects the homogeneity of those relationships, how adolescent networks and affiliations influence the transition into adulthood, and how prehistoric social network changes may have led to the emergence of inherited inequality.

Recent/Select Publications:

Thomas, Reuben J. 2020. “Online Exogamy Reconsidered: Estimating the Internet’s Effects on Racial, Educational, Religious, Political and Age Assortative Mating,” Social Forces.

Rosenfeld, Michael J., Reuben J. Thomas, and Sonia Hausen. 2019. “Disintermediating Your Friends: How Online Dating in the United States Displaces Other Ways of Meeting,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Thomas, Reuben J. 2019. “Sources of Friendship and Structurally-Induced Homophily Across the Life Course,” Sociological Perspectives.

Thomas, Reuben J. and Noah P. Mark. 2013. "Population Size, Network Density, and the Emergence of Inherited Inequality." Social Forces. 92,2:521-44.

Rosenfeld, Michael J. and Reuben J. Thomas. 2012. "Searching for a Mate: The Rise of the Internet as Social Intermediary." American Sociological Review. 77,4:523-47.

Courses:

Couples, Family & Friendship

Advanced Social Statistics I and II (Graduate)

Sociological Data Analysis

Classical Sociological Theory (Graduate)

Games & Society