Professor, Department of Sociology

Email: hdh@albany.edu
Phone: (518)442-4907
Office: Arts & Sciences 320

Curriculum Vitae | Publications | Grant Activity | Personal Website

Recent Scientific Accomplishments

Accomplishments of the past 36 Months: Professor Horton’s innovative approach to demographic research aims to expand the boundaries of demography by incorporating active participation in the community and the active involvement of community partners and to open the door to new scholars who heretofore have not considered demography as a field of inquiry. His most significant accomplishment in the last three years has been the successful launch of the “Capitalize on Community” HIV Prevention project in Albany. This is an interdisciplinary effort involving individuals from Sociology, Public Health and Social Welfare, as well as Whitney M. Young Health Center, the Stratton VA Med Center, The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York, the Capital District African American Coalition on AIDS, St. John's Community Development Corporation, Centro Civico (New York State’s leading Latino community development organization) and Clement & Associates (a black and female-owned healthcare consulting firm). The project conducts community forums and interviews, runs focus groups, especially in the faith-based community, and holds an annual conference.
In his other research, Professor Horton is interested in measuring racism and in developing new concepts to better understand it. He co-authored a paper, “Critical Demography and the Measurement of Racism: A Reconsideration of Wealth, Status and Power,” which appeared in Race & Society. He also is the co-editor of a recent book on race, Skin/Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the Color-Blind Era, to which he contributed a chapter “Toward A Critical Demography of Neo-Mulattos: Structural Change and Diversity within the Black Population.” There, he and his co-author, a former student, argue that what they call the “neo-mulatto” population serves as a buffer between blacks and whites, having access to “whitespace” but not being completely immune to racism and discrimination. He continues this analysis in “Racism, Whitespace and the Rise of the Neo-Mulattos” in Mixed Messages: Multiracial Identities in the “Color-Blind” Era. His recent publications also include a sketch of the demography of black entrepreneurs.
Professor Horton is the founder of the Critical Demography paradigm, which is discussed in a number of his recent publications, such as his forthcoming paper “Toward a Critical Demography of Race and Ethnicity: Introduction of the ‘R’ Word.” In addition to the paradigm, Professor Horton has introduced several new concepts (e.g. quasi-whites, neo-mulattos, a new social class measure) and a population theory (i.e. the population and structural change thesis) to the discipline.

Funded Research

None.

Future Plans

Professor Horton has numerous working papers under development. They include: Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Black Poverty in Rural New York State, Race and the Decline of Marriage Among Men, The Sociology of Quasi-Whites: nonEuropean, nonHispanic Whites in the United States; Race and the Decline of Marriage among Men; Toward a Unified Theory of Race and Ethnicity: Further Elaboration on the Population and Structural Change Thesis. Each of these papers advances different aspects of the Critical Demography paradigm. Together with Beverlyn Lundy-Allen he is preparing a book manuscript Rebuilding Black Communities: Black Community Development in Contemporary America. Professor Horton has an NSF grant proposal in development: The Black Working Class: A Social and Demographic Study.