Browsing by Author "Chancer, Lynn"

The effects of the modern diet is often attributed to an individual’s action. Previous studies have addressed the social dynamics of food including how cultural barriers, identity, and food consciousness form within communities. Other literature examines the discourse around diet and the health effects on college students. College campuses as a place of study remain absent from the research around the sociological aspects of food and experiences of eating. Therefore, the primary purpose of this thesis is to explore how Princeton University undergraduate students make food choices. Princeton University represents a microcosm of food in modern society. Students of diverse backgrounds must navigate the challenges of food such as changing preferences, culture, innovation, consumption patterns, and sustainability issues. A mixture of twenty administrator and student interviews were conducted, and the findings reveal that the dining spaces hold social hierarchies, and mealtimes are highly ritualized as students both engage in and observe the dining experience. The significance of food shifts over time for students, depending on dynamics of social circles, individual beliefs, and specific social structures at Princeton. Globalization, gender, and the environment were recurring themes throughout both the student and administrator interviews. There remains a communication gap between the students and administrators despite the growing consciousness of sustainability and food. The research provides several intervention opportunities and directions for future studies.

While jury duty is the only civic duty specifically required of American citizens, many individuals attempt to avoid this obligation—both before appearing in court and once they do appear. This thesis addresses the latter, investigating the court process involved in jury duty completion and dismissals. I conducted in-depth interviews with the three critical parties involved in this process: 22 “likely to appear” jurors of various age brackets; three court administrators in diverse roles; and eight trial lawyers of discrete legal backgrounds who live, work, and practice in New York City, where many jury reforms have already been implemented. These interviews revealed the distinct goals that each party harbors in relation to juror completion and dismissals. After finding a prevalence of time concerns and a desire for greater participation among jurors, I evaluate the success of previous reform efforts and suggest additional recommendations that might increase participation in jury duty.

Where do families belong in the youth justice system? This thesis compares how New Zealand and Maryland treat family engagement within their respective institutions. I define family engagement as the meaningful inclusion of a young person’s family as informants, participants, or decision makers across youth justice processes. Drawing on 18 semi-structured interviews with professionals working in or adjacent to New Zealand’s and Maryland’s youth justice systems, I ask: (1) how is youth justice conceptualized in theory? (2) where does family fit into this framework? and (3) how do institutional practices align with and deviate from the stated goals? Interviewees across both cases articulate a strikingly similar vision of an ideal youth justice system, yet the two institutions’ practices differ significantly. Maryland’s system maintains a rhetorical commitment to family that is not translated into practice, while New Zealand’s system structurally embeds families in decision-making processes.

The purpose of this research is to add to the scholarly conversation on the topic of gun control debate in the United States of America. Specifically, I looked at the themes of reporting on mass shootings within The New York Times over the last 25 years, broken down into three distinct timeframes. Those time frames are 1996-2000, 2009-2013, and 2019-2023. I also looked at how the NRA and Brady Campaign responded to mass shootings. The themes in the reporting by The New York Times on mass shootings evolved and changed throughout my study. In the beginning, there was a keen interest in large mass shooting events. As time went on my findings showed that there was more emotional appeal in their reporting. The coverage of mass shootings was very partisan. In my research, I found that the problem of mass shootings has not moved the gun control debate out of a stalemate in any meaningful way. However, I have uncovered some key framing tactics and emotional appeals that the two social movement organizations make when speaking publicly and to their members. Generally speaking, both sides of the argument value safety and liberty. Their expressions of those values are polar opposites, and their solution types are either individualistic(NRA) or collective(Brady Campaign). The NRA is a larger, more sophisticated, and at times secretive organization. The Brady Campaign is proactive and more public in its efforts to create change.

People in the United States live in a world that is surrounded by technology and incarceration. With millions of people reentering society every year, how have actors in the United States viewed incarcerated individuals’ access to Information and Communication Technology, especially as it pertains to addressing issues surrounding reentry and the goals of institutions.. This thesis aims to examine the opinions of these various actors and place the conversation in a comparative perspective with the world’s first prison system that has provided prisoners access to the Internet in Belgium’s Beveren Prison in Antwerp. From these interviews, I found that some jails and prisons in the United States has begun to be more accepting of ICT access, under the form of tablets exclusively, during the last two decades. Comparing these results to other interviewed groups including advocacy organizations, I evaluate the effect of rehabilitation research that has emerged in recent years on changing the landscape and goals of penal institutions.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), incarcerated individual, United States, New Jersey, Belgium, PrisonCloud, tablets

Through surveying a Princeton pilot mentoring program and interviewing current Princeton students and alumni, this thesis examines the interplay between the undergraduate experience and alumni mentorship at Princeton University. While current and recent undergraduates express a strong and widespread desire to receive alumni mentorship, I find that Princeton’s current mentorship programs are inadequate to address students’ ever evolving needs. Thus, this thesis argues that Princeton University, and other institutions, should implement structured and comprehensive mentorship initiatives designed to foster meaningful and sustained relationships. Ultimately, my results suggest that if universities establish a robust alumni mentorship program, they will cultivate a more inclusive campus environment, strengthen alumni engagement with their alma mater, and enhance the trajectory of their students’ lives.