Vera Institute of Justice

Fine is professor in the PhD Program in Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center. A social psychologist, her primary research interest is the study of social injustice: when injustice is perceived or appears simply fair or deserved, when it is resisted, and how it is negotiated by those who pay the most serious price for social inequities. She studies these issues in her work with public high schools, prisons, and youth in urban communities, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Her research is typically participatory, with youth and/or activists, drawing from feminist, critical race, and other critical theories. She is the author, most recently, of The unknown city: Lives of poor and working class young adults (1998), Speedbumps: A student-friendly guide to qualitative research (2000), and Construction sites: Excavating race, class, gender & sexuality in spaces for and by youth (2000), all co-authored with L. Weis. Professor Fine received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Teachers College of Columbia University in 1980.