michael miller
University of Texas at San Antonio, Sociology, Faculty Member
- UTSA profedit
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Although recent studies have linked pandemic unemployment with poorer mental health, the mechanisms underlying this association remain understudied. In this paper, we develop a mediation model to explain why pandemic job separation might... more
Although recent studies have linked pandemic unemployment with poorer mental health, the mechanisms underlying this association remain understudied. In this paper, we develop a mediation model to explain why pandemic job separation might undermine mental health. Using national data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (n = 1,258), we test the indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through several mechanisms. Mediation analyses reveal compound indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through the primary pathway of financial strain and the secondary pathways of social support, self-esteem, mastery, religious struggles, and sleep disturbance. Absent the indirect effect of pandemic job separation through financial strain, we would have failed to observe any simple indirect effects through the other proposed mechanisms. Formal moderated mediation analyses also indicate that our observed indirect effects are invariant...
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As termination has become common among high-status workers, an industry has evolved that purports to assist in their reemployment. Advocates of outplacement have empha-sized to employers, however, that the industry’s service primarily... more
As termination has become common among high-status workers, an industry has evolved that purports to assist in their reemployment. Advocates of outplacement have empha-sized to employers, however, that the industry’s service primarily functions as a self-pro-tective device, minimizing the problematic reactions of job losers and bystanders. The particular strategy articulated by advocates for orchestrating the emotions, energies, and goals of terminated workers is described, and is interpreted as being analogous to that used by confidence game operators in “cooling-out ” those they defraud. Practitioners of outplacement exploit contradictory impressions about what they do. On the surface, they seem to be promoting the welfare of those being sepa-rated from work. Indeed, the presence of an outplacement (OP) program popu-larly suggests that an employer is socially responsible, concerned with easing the emotional trauma of termination as well as shortening the stress of unemploy-ment by...
Description centers on an approach for efficiently incorporating online media resources into course and classroom. Consideration is given to pedagogical rationale, types of media, locating programs and clips, content retrieval and... more
Description centers on an approach for efficiently incorporating online media resources into course and classroom. Consideration is given to pedagogical rationale, types of media, locating programs and clips, content retrieval and delivery, copyright issues, and typical problems experienced by instructors and students using online resources. In addition, selected media-relevant websites appropriate to the social sciences along with samples of digital materials gleaned from these sites are listed and discussed.
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ts.sagepub.com Video can now be seamlessly integrated into the classroom as recent technological developments have reconstituted film into streamable digitized media. Indeed, the current explosion in online con-tent and the evolving... more
ts.sagepub.com Video can now be seamlessly integrated into the classroom as recent technological developments have reconstituted film into streamable digitized media. Indeed, the current explosion in online con-tent and the evolving electronic classroom, among other innovations, have transformed this medium into one of the most promising instruments in the teaching toolkit. Instructors nevertheless have received little guidance about how to address the welter of content now available. In fact, the utility of online video has largely gone unrecognized in the teaching-with-film literature. Notwithstanding this neglect, conventional film resources have received significant treatment within and outside the discipline of sociology, and fields as diverse as psychology, business manage-ment, and economics have been especially notable for addressing this topic (Anderson 1992; Billsberry 2013; Leet and Houser 2003). However, our disci-pline has entertained an even longer, more intense discus...
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... The Supreme Court of New Jersey in the notorious In re Baby M. (1988, superseded by statute as stated in In re Adoption of Children by GPB, 1999) granted sole custody of the baby to the biological father, William Stern, although the... more
... The Supreme Court of New Jersey in the notorious In re Baby M. (1988, superseded by statute as stated in In re Adoption of Children by GPB, 1999) granted sole custody of the baby to the biological father, William Stern, although the surrogate, Mary Beth Whitehead, retained ...
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AUTHOR Miller, Michael V.; Maria, Robert, Leo TITLE Poverty in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas: Historical and Contemporary Dimensions. INSTITUTION Texas A and _M Univ., College Station: Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. SPONS... more
AUTHOR Miller, Michael V.; Maria, Robert, Leo TITLE Poverty in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas: Historical and Contemporary Dimensions. INSTITUTION Texas A and _M Univ., College Station: Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. SPONS AGENCY Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. REPORT NO. TAEb-H-3286 PUB DATE Aug 78 NOTE 90p.; PapetNpresented at the annual meetings of the Rural Sociological Society (San Franco, California, August, 1978)
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This paper develops mathematical representations for neuro-anatomically significant substructures of the brain and their variability in a population. The focus of the paper is on the neuro-anatomical variation of the geometry and the... more
This paper develops mathematical representations for neuro-anatomically significant substructures of the brain and their variability in a population. The focus of the paper is on the neuro-anatomical variation of the geometry and the "shape" of two-dimensional surfaces in the brain. As examples, we focus on the cortical and hippocampal surfaces in an ensemble of Macaque monkeys and human MRI brains. The "shapes" of the substructures are quantified via the construction of templates; the variations are represented by defining probabilistic deformations of the template. Methods for empirically estimating probability measures on these deformations are developed by representing the deformations as Gaussian random vector fields on the embedded sub-manifolds. The Gaussian random vector fields are constructed as quadratic mean limits using complete orthonormal bases on the sub-manifolds. The complete orthonormal bases are generated using modes of vibrations of the geomet...
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As termination has become common among high-status workers, an industry has evolved that purports to assist in their reemployment. Advocates of outplacement have emphasized to employers, however, that the industry's service primarily... more
As termination has become common among high-status workers, an industry has evolved that purports to assist in their reemployment. Advocates of outplacement have emphasized to employers, however, that the industry's service primarily functions as a self-protective device, minimizing the problematic reactions of job losers and bystanders. The particular strategy articulated by advocates for orchestrating the emotions, energies, and goals of terminated workers is described, and is interpreted as being analogous to that used by confidence game operators in "cooling-out" those they defraud.
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Given the massive volume of course-relevant videos now available on the Internet, this article outlines a pedagogy to facilitate the instructional employment of such materials. First, we describe special features of streaming media that... more
Given the massive volume of course-relevant videos now available on the Internet, this article outlines a pedagogy to facilitate the instructional employment of such materials. First, we describe special features of streaming media that have enabled their use in the classroom. Next, we introduce a typology comprised of six categories (conjuncture, testimony, infographic, pop fiction, propaganda, and détournement). We define properties of each video type and the strengths of each type in meeting specific learning goals common to sociology instruction. We conclude by discussing the importance of a video pedagogy for helping instructors to employ video more consciously and efficiently.
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The functional integrity of the U.S.-Mexico border region is jeopardized whenever the policies of either nation disrupt important transborder linkages. A case in point is the economic distress experienced in U.S. border cities following a... more
The functional integrity of the U.S.-Mexico border region is jeopardized whenever the policies of either nation disrupt important transborder linkages. A case in point is the economic distress experienced in U.S. border cities following a series of drastic monetary changes initiated by the Mexican government in 1982. The peso devaluations, coupled with foreign exchange and trade controls, precipitated sharp drops in Mexican commercial demand, which in turn led to widespread business failures, spiraling unemployment, and expanding welfare rolls in border communities highly dependent on Mexican trade. While the well-documented economic shocks caused by the 1982 devaluations varied in magnitude by locale (Baerresen 1982, Diehl 1983, Hansen 1983, Shellhammer 1984, Ellard 1985, Harrell and Fischer 1985), their broader social impacts across border cities have not yet been examined. The effect of the devaluations on crime patterns is an especially relevant issue from both public-policy and social-scientific standpoints. The present study addresses the influence of economic disruption on crime within the four major Texas cities adjacent to the Mexican border -- Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, and El Paso.
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An international boundary potentially contributes to criminal activity across a border region in at least two important ways. Where a boundary divides a market by restricting the exchange of goods and people, it can generate illicit... more
An international boundary potentially contributes to criminal activity across a border region in at least two important ways. Where a boundary divides a market by restricting the exchange of goods and people, it can generate illicit crossborder traffic. For example, smuggling and blackmarket networks typically arise when commodities available in one nation are greatly desired, but prohibited or heavily taxed in the other. A boundary also sets jurisdictional authority, and consequently may constrain police responses to local crime by limiting essential investigation or by providing refuge in the other nation for lawbreakers. This is especially true where cultures, laws, and enforcement practices are divergent and intergovernment cooperation is tenuous. Thus, border communities frequently become both contraband staging centers and special havens for not only smugglers, but other criminal offenders. Although students of the U.S.-Mexico border are well aware of these observations, they have devoted little research attention to the organization of binational crime (Carter 1983). Notable exceptions include Lupsha's (1985) seminal conceptualization of the border underworld, and several studies concerning the smuggling of consumer goods (Miller, T. 1981), illegal Drugs (Craig 1978, 1980), and undocumented workers (Samora 1971, Stoddard 1976). However, the binational context of predatory crimes (violent or property offenses) has been ignored. This article addresses this neglected area by examining the problem of motor vehicle theft in Texas cities adjacent to Mexico.
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The nature of job termination and causal attribution for termination were examined for their association with psychological distress among a sample of working-class men in San Antonio, Texas who had recently become unemployed. Laid-off... more
The nature of job termination and causal attribution for termination were examined for their association with psychological distress among a sample of working-class men in San Antonio, Texas who had recently become unemployed. Laid-off workers were found to experience significantly lower levels of distress than fired workers, largely because the former overwhelmingly defined job loss as a function of the economy. The fired typically attributed job loss to unfair treatment by employers, and they, like the laid off who made similar attributions, indicated significant distress. Psychological reactivity was by far the highest among fired and laid-off workers who reported having been unjustly terminated because of personal shortcomings or deficiencies. Contrary to conventional thought, job loss self-blame was not found to be associated with high levels of distress.
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EJ075487 - Vertical Ties and the Redistribution of Power in Crystal City.
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Key features of open video repositories are outlined, followed by brief description of specific sites relevant to the social sciences. Although most were created by instructors over the past 10 years to facilitate teaching and learning,... more
Key features of open video repositories are outlined, followed by brief description of specific sites relevant to the social sciences. Although most were created by instructors over the past 10 years to facilitate teaching and learning, significant variation in kind, quality, and number per discipline were discovered. Economics and Psychology have the most extensive sets of repositories, while Political Science has the least development. Among original-content websites, Economics has the strongest collection in terms of production values, given substantial support from wealthy donors to advance political and economic agendas. Sociology stands out in having the most developed website in which found-video is applied to teaching and learning. Numerous multidisciplinary sites of quality have also emerged in recent years.
Key features of open video repositories (OVRs) are outlined, followed by brief descriptions of specific websites relevant to the social sciences. Although most were created by instructors over the past 10 years to facilitate teaching and... more
Key features of open video repositories (OVRs) are outlined, followed by brief descriptions of specific websites relevant to the social sciences. Although most were created by instructors over the past 10 years to facilitate teaching and learning, significant variation in kind, quality, and number per discipline were discovered. Economics and psychology have the most extensive sets of repositories, while political science has the least development. Among original-content websites, economics has the strongest collection in terms of production values, given substantial support from wealthy donors to advance political and economic agendas. Economics also provides virtually all edited-content OVRs. Sociology stands out in having the most developed website in which found video is applied to teaching and learning. Numerous multidisciplinary sites of quality have also emerged in recent years.
Research Interests:
Description centers on an approach for efficiently incorporating online media resources into course and classroom. Consideration is given to pedagogical rationale, types of media, locating programs and clips, content retrieval and... more
Description centers on an approach for efficiently incorporating online media resources into course and classroom. Consideration is given to pedagogical rationale, types of media, locating programs and clips, content retrieval and delivery, copyright issues, and typical problems experienced by instructors and students using online resources. In addition, selected media-relevant websites appropriate to the social sciences along with
samples of digital materials gleaned from these sites are listed and discussed.
samples of digital materials gleaned from these sites are listed and discussed.
Research Interests:
This article argues for the extensive employment of multimedia in college courses, and also suggests that instructors jointly involve their students in the process of making such resources. To foster greater engagement, a way of thinking... more
This article argues for the extensive employment of multimedia in college courses, and also suggests that instructors jointly involve their students in the process of making such resources. To foster greater engagement, a way of thinking about multimedia within the context of a coherent online system is introduced. The article identifies the key components of this system (i.e., distribution, location, collection, conceptualization, and production), the precise ways in which various online services and tools fit into each element, and how facility can be developed in working with digital learning content across the system.
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Although recent studies have linked pandemic unemployment with poorer mental health, the mechanisms underlying this association remain understudied. In this paper, we develop a mediation model to explain why pandemic job separation might... more
Although recent studies have linked pandemic unemployment with poorer mental health, the mechanisms underlying this association remain understudied. In this paper, we develop a mediation model to explain why pandemic job separation might undermine mental health. Using national data from the 2021 Crime, Health, and Politics Survey (n = 1,258), we test the indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through several mechanisms. Mediation analyses reveal compound indirect effects of pandemic job separation on psychological distress through the primary pathway of financial strain and the secondary pathways of social support, self-esteem, mastery, religious struggles, and sleep disturbance. Absent the indirect effect of pandemic job separation through financial strain, we would have failed to observe any simple indirect effects through the other proposed mechanisms. Formal moderated mediation analyses also indicate that our observed indirect effects are invariant to subgroup differences in current employment status, education, and household income. In short, our indirect effects are observed for those respondents who were able to regain employment, those with college degrees, and those with the most financial resources. Our results suggest that the temporary expansion of public assistance has been insufficient to offset widespread unemployment and financial hardship during a global pandemic.