Duke University Sorority Article

[BigRedBeta]

This is not a new criticism, just one that has finally been brought up in mainstream articles. Several years ago, while doing research for a paper in my Sociology Senior Capstone Course on the differences in messages in GLO magazines from NPHC and NPC/IFC orgs (as well as gender differences) I came across an interesting article (one of the few that came even close to my topic) from 1999. The authors found that for many white women, the motivation for joining a sorority was largely due to social concerns, while for black women, there was an expectation that joining a sorority would help them professionally. The article was pretty well written, and my own content analysis in looking at fraternity and sorority magazines and the messages presented there both latently and manifestly, found similar things. There was a lot more emphasis in the NPC group's magazine on fulfilling multiple roles as a woman, but they were all equal - wife, mother, career, sorority member, friend, etc...and this was in the "Career" issue. The NPHC sorority mag though had a lot more on service and achievement - the messages were much clearer that joining the NPHC sorority was a way to succeed as an educated woman, with much less emphasis on friendship and "sisterhood".


Here's the citation for the article I was talking about. In the academics section of Chit Chat here on GC, there's a thread I started when I was Betarulz! titled "The GC Academic Conference" in which I briefly (very briefly - the final paper was 17 pages and early versions were closer to 25) cover my paper and findings.


Berkowitz, Alexandra and Irene Padavic. “Getting a Man or Getting Ahead: A comparison of White and Black Sororities.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography; Vol. 27 No. 4 January 1999.