ABOUT DR. JONES
Dr. James R. Jones is Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Sociology and the inaugural director of the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America at Rutgers University Newark.
Dr. Jones is a leading expert on congressional staff diversity. He has authored three groundbreaking policy reports on racial representation among congressional staff. His research demonstrates how people of color are underrepresented in both top and junior staff positions on Capitol Hill. His first public policy paper documented the underrepresentation of racial minorities in top staff positions in the Senate. In 2017, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer adopted policy recommendations from this report to increase racial diversity amongst democratic staff and improve transparency in staff hiring decisions. His latest policy paper, “Who Congress Pays,” with Pay Our Interns, documents how White students are disproportionately overrepresented in paid congressional internships. In April 2021, Jones appeared before the House Committee on the Modernization of Congress to provide testimony on strategies for enhancing access to congressional internships for underrepresented groups. In recognition of his pioneering sociological research and significant contributions to public discourse, Dr. Jones was honored with the prestigious Public Sociology Award by the Eastern Sociological Society in 2024.
Dr. Jones’ research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Dirksen Congressional Center as well as various prestigious fellowships from Columbia University, Duke University, Princeton University, and Rutgers University.
His writing has been featured in esteemed academic journals such as Du Bois Review and Sociological Forum, alongside prominent appearances in public outlets including Teen Vogue, The Daily Beast, Newsworks, and In These Times. Moreover, his research has garnered attention from major media outlets such as NPR, The Washington Post, Time, and The Atlantic.
Raised in Philadelphia, Dr. Jones is a proud member of the 264th graduating class of Central High School. He attended George Washington University, graduating cum laude with a major in Political Science and minor in Sociology and Africana Studies. He earned his PhD in Sociology from Columbia University in 2017, where he was honored with the Robert K. Merton Award for Best Dissertation and the Daniel Bell Award for Best Contribution to Sociological Research or Public Policy.
Dr. Jones resides in New York City with his husband and their beloved dog, Mrs. Carter.
His research focuses on racial representation and inequality within American political workplaces. Dr. Jones examines the career experiences of Black workers to examine the interplay of race, power, and inequality within our nation’s most prominent political institutions.
Dr. Jones is the author of The Last Plantation: Racism and resistance in the halls of Congress from Princeton University Press. The title draws on the fact that members of Congress and their staff have applied this telling nickname to the legislature in order to highlight how the institution is exempt from the very policies and principles it is tasked to create and implement (including federal workplace laws). In The Last Plantation, Jones draws upon the plantation metaphor to analyze how race and racism are produced and maintained within the congressional workplace and the Capitol at large. Centering the experiences of Black workers within this complex landscape, his book provides valuable insights to demonstrate the problems they face, the barriers that hinder their progress, and the ways they contest entrenched inequality.