Biography

Michael Ian Borer's research and teaching interests focus on the creative ways that individuals and groups  make sense of the world around them. Specifically, he focuses on urban interactions and community building, religious and spiritual practices and rituals, and the influence of popular culture on social relations. Much of his research aims to uncover the social dynamics of the so-called "culture wars." 

He is the editor of The Varieties of Urban Experience: The American City and the Practice of Culture (UA Press, 2006); the author of Faithful to Fenway: Believing in Boston, Baseball, and America’s Most Beloved Ballpark (NYU Press, 2008) and Vegas Brews: Craft Beer and the Birth of a Local Scene (NYU Press, 2019); and co-author of Urban People and Places: The Sociology of Cities, Suburbs, and Towns (SAGE, 2014). His work has been published in City & Community, the Journal of Popular Culture, Religion & American Culture, Social Psychology Quarterly, Symbolic Interaction, and the Journal of Religion & Media, among other journals and edited books.

Borer is an award-winning scholar, teacher, and mentor. He was the recipient of the 2011 Maines Narrative Research Award - granted by the Ethnography Division of the National Communications Association - for his article “From Collective Memory to Collective Imagination: Time, Place, and Urban Redevelopment.” He was awarded the UNLV Graduate and Professional Student Association Outstanding Mentor Award in 2012 and the College of Liberal Arts William Morris Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2014. He was presented with the Early-in-Career Award by the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

As a public sociologist, Dr. Borer regularly has been quoted about research on cities, urban culture, popular culture, social interaction, religion, and identity politics in local, national, and international media including National Public Radio (NPR), CNN, Fox News, ESPN, Univision, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Sun, the Las Vegas Weekly, the Jerusalem Post, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, MLB.com, and Penn & Teller's Showtime Show "Bullshit."