Faculty Profile

josh tom headshot

Joshua Tom

Associate Professor of Sociology

Email: jtom@spu.edu
Phone: 206-281-2547
Office: Alexander Hall Room 311


Education: PhD, Baylor University, 2015; MA, Baylor University, 2012; BA, University of Washington, 2009. At SPU since 2017.

Joshua Tom received his doctorate in sociology from Baylor University, and spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He conducts research in the areas of race and ethnicity, religion, and marriage and family. His work has been published in Social Science Research, Sociological Perspectives, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, and Journal of Family Issues.


Selected publications

Brandon C. Martinez, Joshua C. Tom, and Joseph Baker. 2022. “Flowing Across with Demonic Hate: Belief in Supernatural Evil and Support for Stricter Immigration Policy” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12787

Jerry Z. Park and Joshua C. Tom. 2020. “Political Trajectories of Asian-Americans: Bringing Religion In” AAPI Nexus, 17(1), 271-288.

Joshua C. Tom. 2018. “Social Origins of Scientific Deviance: Examining Young-Earth Creationism and Global Warming Skepticism” Sociological Perspectives.

Samuel Stroope and Joshua C. Tom. 2017. “In-Home Firearm Access among US Adolescents and the Role of Religion: Results from a Nationally Representative Study” Social Science Research.

Brandon Martinez, Joshua Tom, Todd Ferguson, Brita Andercheck and Samuel Stroope. 2017. “Parenting in an Enchanted World: Belief in Supernatural Evil and Childrearing Practices” Journal of Family Issues.

Samuel Stroope, Todd W. Ferguson, Brandon C. Martinez, Joshua C. Tom, and Brita Andercheck. 2017. “The Social Sources of Community Feelings: An Examination Using a National Survey of Religious Congregations in the United States” Sociological Spectrum.

Todd W. Ferguson, Brita Andercheck, Joshua C. Tom, Brandon C. Martinez, and Samuel Stroope. 2015. “Occupational Conditions, Self-Care, and Obesity among Clergy in the United States” Social Science Research, 49: 249-263.

Please see Joshua Tom’s CV (PDF) for additional information.

Why I Teach at SPU

Joshua Tom, Associate Professor of Sociology

“I teach sociology because I think people are the most interesting things in the world, and sociology offers a powerful toolkit for exploring the things we take for granted. Studying this discipline also has a way of drawing out important virtues — values like self-reflection, humility and grace for others- and it’s exciting to have the opportunity to pass on those experiences to others.”