Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais

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CHAPTER V SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND CONCLUSIONS This dissertation focused on the impact of sorority rituals on the behavior and values of contemporary sorority women. Specifically, I studied sorority undergraduate women and their experiences with ritual and what impact the ritual ceremony had on their values and behavior. Sorority women and their experiences with ritual were explored through a detailed analysis of their stories as told in their own words. This final chapter begins with the summary of the study, discusses the common themes that emerged during the data analysis, and relates these themes to the current body of literature pertinent to this study. The data analysis is followed by recommendations for future research and conclusions. Summary of the Study The participants for this study were sorority women at four-year colleges and universities within the United States. The interviews were conducted as individual interviews and in focus group interviews. Nine focus groups on eight different campuses were conducted. The campuses were from various parts of the United States. I conducted 23 individual interviews on seven different campuses, interviewing 51 sorority women. The campuses were chosen based upon their geographic location, the type of institution (public or private), the size of institution (large or small), the type of sorority community that was on that campus, and my ability as a researcher to travel to that institution. The same questions were used for the individual and focus group interviews. The focus groups were comprised of two to eight sorority women either from the same chapter or different chapters on the same campus. The women were selected randomly and asked to volunteer to participate in the study either by a chapter officer, the Greek advisor, or me. 112
This study included both private and public institutions with enrollments ranging from 1,200 to 35,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Chapter sizes ranged in membership from 10 members to 210 members. Some participants lived in sorority facilities such as houses or residence halls, and others were commuter students. I planned interviews with this criteria established in order to create a range of various sorority experiences. The criteria included sorority women from various size campuses from different parts of the country, various size chapters, as well as residential and commuter campuses. Some of the chapters were older, more traditional chapters, while some were young and growing. Some of the chapters were part of large national/international sororities while others were part of smaller national/international sororities. The sorority women ranged from sophomores to seniors. They were officers, committee members, and regular members who do not hold positions in the chapters. Some of them were older members while others were newly initiated members. Discussion of Common Themes In this section, I present and discuss the findings that appeared to be significant to my study. In structuring this section, the major themes the participants identified when discussing their understanding of ritual are: (a) sorority women’s beliefs and values; (b) sorority women’s perception of ritual; and (c) women’s development within the sorority experience. Sorority Women’s Beliefs and Values The first major theme captured the participants’ perception regarding their beliefs and values, as well as the impact, if any, that ritual has on those beliefs and values. Two primary components framed the participants’ feelings about the ritual ceremony and their beliefs and values: (a) previous beliefs and (b) religious beliefs. Several of the participants stated that they valued the ritual ceremony experience because it was similar to religious types of ceremonies that 113
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SORORITY RITUALS: RITES OF PASSAGE
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful
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for teaching me that a group of peo
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TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ......
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CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, DISCUSSION, REC
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Each year th
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The member groups of the National P
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hopes of the founders rather than t
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ceremony is complete, that person i
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80,000 women join sororities. On mo
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issues, and topics …that formerly
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when do we use it? How do we use it
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the sorority experience has on the
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The lack of information concerning
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of the NPC member groups, and to co
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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Thi
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Ritual Ceremonies and Symbolism in
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Robson writes further: In a world c
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strengthened by encountering differ
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student initiated and created to au
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Gradually, however, they took over
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Following the founding of Kappa Alp
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efer to themselves as "service" org
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Alpha Xi Delta Fraternity Lombard C
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What Is Ritual? In order to explain
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theorist/researcher in the area of
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Ritual as a Rite of Passage Underst
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we are and giving meaning to us wit
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am I? Well, as I see it, I am a per
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Value Congruence Research conducted
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the majority of authors . . . have
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To better understand Gilligan’s F
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only women, all with varying opinio
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member transitions to a leader/role
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development. The isolation period a
Page 71 and 72: Gilligan’s point that sex differe
Page 73 and 74: undergraduate members. Understandin
Page 75 and 76: not an option. Actual observance of
Page 77 and 78: Role of the NPC Research Committee
Page 79 and 80: the chapters were part of large nat
Page 81 and 82: where I was able to travel based up
Page 83 and 84: a whole. I piloted the interview qu
Page 85 and 86: These categories were reflective of
Page 87 and 88: participated in my sorority ritual,
Page 89 and 90: sorority women was a cognitive asse
Page 91 and 92: In addition, only one participant w
Page 93 and 94: school. Sixteen (31%) sophomore par
Page 95 and 96: itual among themselves outside of t
Page 97 and 98: was founded in 1978. Their average
Page 99 and 100: chapters ranging in size from 150 t
Page 101 and 102: participants’ feelings about the
Page 103 and 104: A few of the participants expressed
Page 105 and 106: Several of the participants related
Page 107 and 108: One of the participants explained w
Page 109 and 110: During new member education, you le
Page 111 and 112: Women’s Development within the So
Page 113 and 114: Comments from several of the partic
Page 115 and 116: When I first joined my sorority, I
Page 117 and 118: the participants referred to other
Page 119 and 120: I think that ritual has made me a b
Page 121: The reasons that the participants g
Page 125 and 126: internal value system or they know
Page 127 and 128: sorority women’s length of member
Page 129 and 130: when an 18-year old woman joins a s
Page 131 and 132: ehavior of sorority women, it must
Page 133 and 134: * The level of responsibility and /
Page 135 and 136: to evaluate sorority women and the
Page 137 and 138: they are and what role ritual has i
Page 139 and 140: numbers vary from chapter to chapte
Page 141 and 142: that those ceremonies can bring to
Page 143 and 144: Butler, E. R. (1990). Initiations r
Page 145 and 146: Kuh, G. D., & Arnold, J. C. (1992).
Page 147 and 148: Pennington, D., Zvonkovic, A. C., W
Page 149 and 150: Taylor, S.E., Peplau, L.A., C Sears
Page 151 and 152: APPENDIX A CONSENT FORM 141
Page 153 and 154: APPENDIX B PROFILE QUESTIONS 143
Page 155 and 156: APPENDIX C INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 145
Page 157 and 158: general? What would you say that th
Page 159 and 160: APPENDIX D (LETTER TO THE GREEK ADV
Page 161 and 162: APPENDIX E NATIONAL PANHELLENIC CON
Page 163 and 164: six months doing literature researc
Page 165 and 166: common knowledge similarities--the
Page 167 and 168: Correspondence II To: Shelia Barnes
Page 169 and 170: I truly appreciate your guidance an
Page 171 and 172: Application for Exemption from IRB
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VITA Mari Ann Callais was born in 1
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