Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In an experiment exploring the effects of testimony and meditative breathing techniques on depression and self-efficacy, Black and White abused women gave testimony of their abuse, participated in breathing exercises, or combined testimony/breathing. Results indicate that breathing and combined testimony/breathing significantly affected depression and self-efficacy. Implications for counseling abused women are discussed.

Publication Type: Paper/Poster Proposal
Abstract: Western North Carolina is home to the Great Smokies and extensive mountain forestland. The region is also in the pathway of industrial air pollution from the Tennessee Valley and the Ohio River Valley. The present research explores variables that predict regional residents’ beliefs about the quality of their air. Do respondents believe the manifest visual impression, which is a clean and undeveloped landscape, or are they aware of the realities of significant air quality problems in the community? 439 respondents were surveyed and asked to provide an estimation of the number of air quality days rated as code yellow or worse in the last year. This open-ended count estimation produced a skewed distribution, as estimates are bounded by zero but unbounded above. A form of non-linear regression modeling known as Poisson Regression was employed, which accounts for this non-normal count estimation data. All variables included in the analysis were demonstrated to be significant predictors of beliefs about regional air quality, including basic demographic variables and both television and newspaper exposure. The media exposure variables allow modeling of beliefs about regional air quality using information processing and cultivation theories. This paper discusses non-linear modeling and its broader application as a valuable tool for enhancing survey research methodology.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Survey research on racial attitudes has played a key role in the study of race in America for the past several decades. However, recent work within whiteness studies has suggested that survey research may be limited in its ability to explore and understand the complexities of the racialized system that exists today. I believe that survey research can still be a useful tool by incorporating ideas from whiteness, specifically white privilege. Whiteness studies have addressed questions of white privilege, but these studies are lacking in strong, empirical evidence on a national level. The American Mosaic Project, a nationally representative telephone survey, provides new data and insights into white privilege. New survey questions were asked about whites and racial advantage, along with traditional questions about minorities and racial disadvantage. Preliminary results from this study show that a surprising number of Americans are aware of white privilege. A majority of Americans believe that whites have distinct advantages in our society. Results also show that there are significant differences in the levels of awareness of whiteness between whites, blacks, and Hispanics. These findings show that survey research can be used within a whiteness framework and provide important quantitative, empirical evidence for whiteness.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The Preamble to the Montana Constitution, implemented in 1972, evokes stunning images of the west and stereotypical views of westerners as independent and freedom-loving, needing open spaces to roam and leading lives intimately connected to the land. The legacies of Ted Kaczynski and the Freeman perpetuate these stereotypes. While these images may be truer in myth than reality, there is no doubt that early Montanans were a hardy bunch, willing to make a life in a harsh climate, farm rocky soil, and explore both physical and metaphorical frontiers.

How does this relate to lawerying? Lawyers know that the practice of law varies from place to place. Many variations in how we lawyer have little, if anything, to do with substantive and procedural law. While scholars debate the relationship between law and community norms, e.g., Engels, Merry, Ellickson, and the differences between the “law on the books” and “law in action,” rarely do they address the genesis of these practice differences.

My hypothesis is that local lawyering cultures are shaped by the broader local culture, and the many factors that contribute to that culture’s development, potentially including topography, ethnicity, economics, and weather, among others. As a lens for exploring these issues, I interview lawyers in one western Montana community about their law practices. Building on the information and perceptions gleaned from those interviews, this piece explores the “why” behind those differences, and lays the foundation for further exploration of this hypothesis and the relationship between local legal culture and lawyering.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: We investigate the extent to which the transnational organization of production in the context of foreign investment dependence impacts the environment in less-developed countries. Drawing from the theory of foreign investment dependence and research on structural globalization and the environment, we test two hypotheses: (1) foreign investment dependence in the manufacturing sector is positively associated with carbon dioxide emissions in less-developed countries, and (2) foreign investment dependence in the manufacturing sector is positively associated with the emission of organic water pollutants in less-developed countries. Findings for the OLS fixed effects panel regression analyses confirm both hypotheses, providing support for the theory. Other results correspond with prior research in the political-economic and structural human ecology traditions.