Disaster Studies Research
The Social Capital Index (SoCI) 2020 for the United States
The Social Capital Index (SoCI) 2020 measures the social capital, which consists of three domains, namely measure bonding, bridging, and linking social capital using widely available information at the county level. SoCI® is a valuable tool for disaster managers, scholars, and local residents because it provides a better understanding on broad variations in social capital among counties in the contiguous North America and how a community could cope with future disasters based on social ties and cohesion. Validity and sensitivity tests indicate similar outcomes to other approaches such as the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) and Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI).
The SoCI index synthesizes 26 socioeconomic variables, which were selected based on two criteria, accessibility and availability and literature review. They include ten indicators for bonding, eight for bridging, and eight for linking social capital at the county level from the ESRI GIS data and US Census 2010 and County Business Patterns 2010.
This SoCI index is a hierarchical index with three components namely bonding, bridging, and linking. For each of the three components, we used arithmetic averages to create the sub-index scores and we then added them (with equal weights) to create our final Social Capital Index (SoCI). Prior to the index construction, a data pre-processing to impute missing data, checking for multicollinearity, a min-max transformation, and reverse scale of some indicators were conducted. Proxies for the three most commonly referenced types of social capital: bonding, bridging, and linking were created. Next, a composite social capital index made up of these three categories was constructed to illustrate a spatial distribution of this attribute at the county level within the continental United States.
Reference
Kyne, Dean, and Aldrich, Daniel P. 2020. Capturing Bonding, Bridging, and Linking Social Capital through Publicly Available Data. Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy. View via Publisher
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Citations
- Build Back Better? Effects of Crisis on Climate Change Adaptation Through Solar Power in Japan and the United States
Timothy Fraser, L. Cunningham, Amos Nasongo, 2021. Global Environmental Politics - Disaster resilience in Australia: A geographic assessment using an index of coping and adaptive capacity
Parsons, I. Reeve, +5 authors S. Glavac, 2021 - Disruption Tolerance Index for determining household susceptibility to infrastructure service disruptions
Amir Esmalian, Natalie Coleman, Simon Yu, Madison Koceich, M. Esparza, A. Mostafavi, 2021 - Does the relationship between racial, ethnic, and income diversity and social capital vary across the United States? A county-level analysis using geographically weighted regression
Samantha L. Powers, S. Matthews, A. Mowen, Geography, 2021 - Japanese social capital and social vulnerability indices: Measuring drivers of community resilience 2000–2017
Timothy Fraser, Sociology, 2021 - MASK MANDATES REDUCE COVID-19 MORTALITY: Analysis of 37 States and the District of Columbia, with a further analysis of the impact of demographic and medical factors on efficacy.
Maloney, Medicine, 2021 - The dual effect of social ties on COVID-19 spread in Japan.
Timothy Fraser, Daniel P. Aldrich, Medicine, Scientific reports, 2021 - Bonding, bridging, and linking social capital and social media use: How hyperlocal social media platforms serve as a conduit to access and activate bridging and linking ties in a time of crisis
Courtney Page-Tan, Business, Natural Hazards, 2020 - Climate Crisis at City Hall: How Japanese communities mobilize to eliminate emissions
Timothy Fraser, L. Cunningham, Mary E. Bancroft, Amy Hunt, Eri Lee, Amos Nasongo, Business, 2020 - Disastrous Inferences? The Ecological Fallacy in Disaster and Emergency Management Research
Jargowsky, 2020 - Editorial: Sanity and Resilience in Times of Corona
Kuipers, Risk, hazards & crisis in public policy, 2020 - Editorial: ‘Multiple Faces of Resilience'
Kuipers, 2020
Thesis Guidelines
Please make sure to read the Thesis & Dissertation Manual in its entirety, as it is crucial and the best guide available. An application of a Thesis or Dissertation Committee must be submitted once a committee has been selected. If there is a change of committee member(s) at any time, a Change of Committee form must be submitted. Lastly, a Certification of Completion of Thesis or Dissertation form must be submitted immediately after a successful defense. Please find the forms below and deadline information.
For any questions regarding:
- Creating your Thesis/Dissertation Draft
- Formatting Guidelines for Thesis/Dissertation Draft
- Important Deadlines
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Please contact Ms. Ana Chapa at ETD@utrgv.edu or schedule an appointment below:
Thesis/Dissertation Forms
- Application for Dissertation Committee
- Application for Thesis Committee
- Change of Committee Form
- Certification of Completion of Thesis or Dissertation
Useful tools and information
- Thesis Formatting Guide
- Dissertation Formatting Guide
- Thesis/Dissertation – Template Pack
- Upcoming Thesis/Dissertation Workshops
- ProQuest
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Student Thesis Topics
Faculty Research
The Department of Sociology's faculty conduct research on a wide variety of topics and publish in some of the top journals in their fields. Below are several areas of particular strength and concentration among our faculty.
Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
The study of race and ethnicity, along with immigration, is a special strength among our faculty. Sociology faculty conduct research on a wide range of topics in this area. Mexican American culture, religion, assimilation, and identity are of particular interest to sociology faculty members, a reflection of our unique location at the U.S.-Mexico border. Faculty also study racial and ethnic disparities in education, health, and in the labor market as well as processes of racial construction and racial attribution. Immigrant incorporation and ethnic relations also represent key areas of research among sociologists at UTRGV.
Faculty:
- Cecile Caddel
- Steven Foy
- Arlett Lomeli
- Leticia Nevarez Zavala
- Salvatore Restifo
- Bienvenido Ruiz
- Igor Ryabov
- Katarzyna Sepielak
- Alma D. Trevino-Garza
- Dawid Wladyka
Gender, Family, and Sexuality
Sociology faculty conduct research on the complexities of gender, family, and sexuality in the 21st century. Research areas among our faculty include family and gender roles, how gender intersects with class and race, and the relationship between household composition, family structure, and poverty. Other research focuses on sexuality and LGBT issues, such as the experience of LGBT young adults, and anti-LGBT sentiment and activism.
Faculty:
- Amie Bostic
- Cecile Caddel
- Arlett Lomeli
- Leticia Nevarez Zavala
- Salvatore Restifo
- Igor Ryabov
- Canan Tanir
Environmental Sociology and Disaster Studies
Research related to environmental sociology and disasters is a unique feature of sociology at UTRGV and facilitates the new Disaster Studies M.A. program. Faculty in our program conduct research on population and social vulnerability to disaster, as well as disaster/emergency management and preparedness.
Faculty:
- William Donner
- Dean Kyne
- Arlett Lomeli
- Marla Perez-Lugo
- Katarzyna Sepielak
- Canan Tanir
- Dawid Wladyka
Medical Sociology/Sociology of Health
Sociology faculty conduct research on a wide variety of topics related to the sociology of health and medicine. These topics include access to and utilization of healthcare services, processes of medicalization, mental health issues, eating disorders among adolescents, and obesity.
Faculty:
- Steven Foy
- Leticia Nevarez Zavala
- Igor Ryabov
Sociology faculty members conduct research on a range of other topics, including the sociology of religion, demography, social psychology, the sociology of education, and social movements.
Recent publications by sociology faculty
Amie Bostic
- "Social Spending, Poverty, and Immigration: A Systematic Analysis of Welfare State Effectiveness and Nativity in 24 Upper-and Middle-Income Democracies."
- "Measuring Ethnic Diversity."
- "Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty."
William Donner
- "Information Seeking and Evacuation Decision Making in Hypothetical Hurricane Events in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas"
- “Who Will Stay, Who Will Leave: Decision - Making of Residents Living in Potential Hurricane Impact Areas during a Hypothetical Hurricane Event in the Rio Grande Valley."
- "The general use of outdoor warning sirens: A preliminary survey of emergency managers"
Steven Foy
- "Racism in America: A Reference Handbook"
- “Skin in the Game: Colorism and the Subtle Operation of Stereotypes in Men’s College Basketball.”
- “Beyond America: Cross-National Context and the Impact of Religious versus Secular Organizational Membership on Self-Rated Health.”
- “Reliably Republican? Shifts in U.S. Veterans’ Political Party Affiliation from 1974 to 2016.”
- “Nourish the Soul or Damage the Body?: Belief in the Connection between Christian Moral Failure and Diminished Health.”
- “The Rise of Rational Choice Theory as a Scientific/Intellectual Movement in Sociology¨
- ¨The Shade of a Criminal Record: Colorism, Incarceration, and External Racial Classification"
- "Challenges From and Beyond Symptomatology: Stereotype Threat in Young Adults with ADHD"
Dean Kyne
- "An Exploratory Study on the Association between Community Resilience and Disaster Preparedness in the Rio Grande Valley"
- "Willingness to Prepare for Disasters Among Individuals with Disabilities: An Essential Component for Building Disaster Resiliency"
- "A Bird’s-Eye View of Colonias Hosting Forgotten Americans and Their Community Resilience in the Rio Grande Valley"
- "Storm Surge Risk Assessment in Coastal Communities in the Rio Grande Valley: An Application of GIS-Based Spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis with Analytical Hierarchy Process"
- "Winter Storm Uri 2021: A Litmus Test for Extreme Event Resiliency"
- "Social Connectedness, Physical Distancing and Anxiety in Complying with Shelter-in-Place Orders and Advisories during the Once-in-a-Century COVID-19 Pandemic in US: A Study of Social Media and Internet Users"
- "Kyne-Donner Model of Authority’s Recommendation and Hurricane Evacuation Decisions: A Study of Hypothetical Hurricane Event in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas"
- "Information Seeking and Evacuation Decision Making in Hypothetical Hurricane Events in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas"
- “Who Will Stay, Who Will Leave: Decision - Making of Residents Living in Potential Hurricane Impact Areas during a Hypothetical Hurricane Event in the Rio Grande Valley."
- ¨Nuclear Power Plant Emergencies in the United States¨
- "A Fukushima-Like Disaster in New York City and Possible Issues Associated with the Extreme Event Management System"
- "Living With the Invisible Risks in the U.S. Urban Areas: Potential Nuclear Power-Induced Disasters, Urban Emergency Management Challenges, and Environmental Justice Issues"
- "Emerging Environmental Justice Issues in Nuclear Power and Radioactive Contamination"
- "Public Exposure to U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Plants Induced Disasters"
- "A Longitudinal Study of Human Exposure to Potential Nuclear Power Plan Risk"
- "Managing Nuclear Power Induced Disasters"
Arlett Lomeli
- "Ethnic Context, Education Policy, and Language Assimilation of Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan."
- "Information Seeking and Evacuation Decision Making in Hypothetical Hurricane Events in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas"
- “The Relative Influence of Legal Pressure on Outcomes in a Rehabilitation Aftercare Drug Court”
- “Who Will Stay, Who Will Leave: Decision - Making of Residents Living in Potential Hurricane Impact Areas during a Hypothetical Hurricane Event in the Rio Grande Valley.”
- “The Catholic Church and Mexican American Social Mobility in the Postwar Midwest”
- "Mexican Americans"
- "Social Context, Parental Exogamy and Hakka Language Retention in Taiwan"
Marla Perez-Lugo
- “Beyond the Ivory Tower: Exploring the Role of Universities Towards Sustainable Energy Transitions in Post Disaster Environments.”
- “Understanding Hurricane Maria: Disaster Response as Transition Management.”
Salvatore Restifo
- “Race, Gender, and Nativity in the Southwest Economy: An Intersectional Approach to Income Inequality”
- “Viewing Anti-Immigrant Hate Online: An Application of Routine Activity and Social Structure-Social Learning Theory.”
- "The Enthymemes of Supporting President Trump: Explaining the Association Between Structural Location, Supporting the President, and Agreeing with Online Extremism"
- "At a Crossroads: Economic Hierarchy and Hardship at the Intersection of Race, Sex, and Nativity"
- “Racial/Ethnic Hierarchy and Urban Labor Market Inequality: Four Poignant Historical Cases”
- “Reliably Republican? Shifts in U.S. Veterans’ Political Party Affiliation from 1974 to 2016”
- "Legitimation, State Repression, and the Sioux Massacre at Wounded Knee"
Chad Richardson
Ben Ruiz
- “The Relative Influence of Legal Pressure on Outcomes in a Rehabilitation Aftercare Drug Court”
- “Latino Group Consciousness as a Resource: The Case of Second and Third Generation Mexican Americans”
- “The Catholic Church and Mexican American Social Mobility in the Postwar Midwest”
- “Pan-Latino Neighborhoods: Contemporary Myth or Reality?”
Igor Ryabov
- "Conspicuous consumption among Hispanics: Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey"
- "Educational outcomes of Asian and Hispanic Americans: The significance of skin color"
- "Examining the role of residential segregation in explaining racial/ethnic gaps in spending on fruit and vegetables"
Katarzyna Sepielak
- "A Review of Literature on the Usage of Low-Cost Sensors to Measure Particulate Matter."
- "Language proficiency and use of interpreters/translators in fieldwork: A survey of US-based anthropologists and sociologists."
- "Field Research in the Era of the Islamic State and Trump"
- "Using Low-Cost Sensors to Assess PM2.5 Concentrations at Four South Texan Cities on the U.S.-Mexico Border."
- "Fine Particulate Matter Concentrations during Independence Day Fireworks Display in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region, South Texas, USA."
- "Football for All. The Quality of the Live Closed Captioning in the Super Bowl LII"
- "Subtitling Speed in Media Accessibility Research: Some Methodological Considerations"
- "Political parties and women's success in municipal elections in 2005 in Montérégie and Montréal (Québec, Canada)"
- "Unsung interpreters: The jumbled practice of language translation in contemporary field research. A study of Anthropological field sites in the Arab League Countries"
- "Synchronization techniques in multilingual feature voiced-over movies in Poland"
- "Synchrony in the voice-over of Polish fiction genres"
- "Translation techniques in voiced-over multilingual feature movies"
- "Synchronization techniques in multilingual feature voiced-over movies in Poland"
Canan Tanir
Dawid Wladyka
- "What happens when researcher and researched speak different languages?"
- "A Review of Literature on the Usage of Low-Cost Sensors to Measure Particulate Matter."
- "Language proficiency and use of interpreters/translators in fieldwork: A survey of US-based anthropologists and sociologists."
- "Field Research in the Era of the Islamic State and Trump"
- "Using Low-Cost Sensors to Assess PM2.5 Concentrations at Four South Texan Cities on the U.S.-Mexico Border."
- "Fine Particulate Matter Concentrations during Independence Day Fireworks Display in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Region, South Texas, USA."
- "International Immigration, Integration and Sustainability in Small Towns and Villages. Socio-Territorial Challenges in Rural and Semi-Rural Europe"
- "Unsung interpreters: the jumbled practice of language translation in contemporary field research – a study of anthropological field sites in the Arab League countries"
- "Challenges in achieving sustainability in Iberian rural areas and small towns: Exploring immigrant stakeholders’ perceptions in Alentejo, Portugal, and Empordà, Spain"
- "Immigrants’ Integration Challenges and Sustainability in Stratford-upon-Avon: Perceptions and Experiences from a ‘Global’ Small Town in Nationalistic Times"
- "War in the Feudal Zone: State Failure and the Abandonment of Anthropological Research in Mexico and Central America"
- "A sustainable touristic place in times of crisis? The case of Empuriabrava – a superdiverse Mediterranean resort"
- "The Impact of Researchers' Perceptions of Insecurity and Organized Crime on Fieldwork in Central America and Mexico"
- "The Queries to Google Search as Predictors of Migration Flows from Latin America to Spain"
- "Chinese immigrants in the Sagrada Familia neighbourhood of Barcelona, Spain: Their socio-economic viability and identity"
- "Inter-group perceptions and representations in Barcelona: A comparison of Poble Sec and Sagrada Familia neighborhoods"
Disaster Studies Websites
- The Institute for Disaster Mental Health
- EM-DAT The International Disaster Database
- Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC)
Disaster Studies Student Associations
Emergency Management Associations
- Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP)
- Black Emergency Managers Association (BEMA)
- International Association for Preparedness and Response (DERA)
- International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM)
- National Emergency Management Association (NEMA)
- National Information Officers Association (NIOA)
- U.S. First Responders Association (USFRA)
Disaster Studies
This is a collection of openly licensed or free textbooks and materials that can be used to enhance teaching and learning. This page highlights some of the Open Educational Resources (OER) available, but this is by no means an exhaustive list. If you would like to learn more about OER please visit the Open Educational Resources and Textbook Affordability Library Guide.
Disaster Studies Textbooks
- Comparative Emergency Management Book
- Critical Issues in Disaster Science and Management
- Disciplines, Disasters and Emergency Management Textbook
- Emergency and Risk Management Case Studies Textbook
Disaster Studies Resources
Disaster Studies Media
Open Access Disaster Studies Journals
- Geoenvironmental Disasters
- Homeland Security Affairs
- Jamba: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies
- Journal of Applied Volcanology
- Journal of Disaster and Emergency Research
- Journal of Flood Risk Management
- Media + Environment
- Open Access Emergency Medicine
Disaster Studies Collections
Disaster Studies Library Guides, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Welcome to the Disaster Studies Research Guide!
Visit the Disaster Studies Library Guides webpage.
When you are at the library's page, please use the tabs; to begin searching for sources.
If you have any questions or need research assistance, please feel free to contact a Librarian--contact information is to the right.
