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Chelsea Hunter
Professor Rood
ENC 1102
6 March 2015
Sororitys Membership Process and Hierarchy: How They Affect The Discourse Community
Sororities all around the world have mentored, guided, and encouraged girls, including
myself to achieve their goal, that is, to not only better their community, but to also better
themselves. In order to become a member, multiple measures need to be taken, such as a
weeklong process of meeting members, a background check, and another week of initiation
rituals. The rigid membership process can be overwhelming for young college students, but
personally and nationally is seen as a necessity. John Swales, a professor of linguistics at the
University of Michigan, would define this organization as a discourse community by meeting the
criteria he specifically states in his article, The Concept of Discourse Community. This
research will focus on his last requirement, A discourse community has a threshold of members
with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (222). Through our meetings,
or chapters, every Sunday, to the hours volunteered to the sororitys greater good, does the
criteria Swales mentions benefit the sorority as a whole or does it inhibit members from reaching
their full potential? Past research has been done and done again to determine whether a sorority
increases or decreases the self-esteem and academics, as the sororitys goal, as was previously
stated, suggests. There are different kinds of ranking throughout sororities, like age, membership
length and position. Does this scale of relevance have any effect on the members that have
already gone through the strict membership process, and does it affect their common goal?
The researchers that have looked into the intriguing discourse community that is a
sorority through numbers and surveys but theyve missed the personal aspect. Through this firsthand view of a sorority I will explore the disadvantages and advantages of the levels of
membership and how they affect the individual member, as well as the success of the discourse

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community achieving their goal. Some researchers would say seniority does greatly affect the
member not only on the outside, but also on her confidence. They claim the longer girls are
active members in the sorority the lower their self-esteem plummets. This problem, if accurate
needs to be addressed sooner rather than later in order to keep girls from having low self-esteem,
and instead empower them to be successful members of other discourse communities they will
be involved in. In addition to their research, I believe the exclusive membership process could
facilitate the uneasiness new members feel and should be handled cautiously to prevent it from
negatively impacting the entire discourse communitys communication. Although others would
propose the opposite, saying that being in a sorority actually increases effort put into harder
classes, which has been proven to increase their self-esteem. This overall subject, if not
addressed could lead to a massive decrease of girls self-esteem and sorority membership.
Basow, Susan A., Kelly A. Foran, and Jamila Bookwala. "Body Objectification, Social Pressure,
And Disordered Eating Behavior In College Women: The Role Of Sorority Membership."
Psychology Of Women Quarterly 31.4 (2007): 394. Publisher Provided Full Text
Searching File. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Basow, Foran and Bookwala researched the influence of sorority members who lived in
the sorority house and those who didnt while comparing both of those with non-sorority
members social pressure, body objectification and self esteem. Along with these groups
of girls, they also tested girls who were planning on joining a sorority (i.e. rushing) to
detect whether sororities attract the vulnerable type. The article looks at the effects other,
sometimes older, girls have on each other. They found that the length of time spent in a
sorority, especially those living in the house, increases your probability of feeling
inadequate compared to others but claiming to not feel the social pressure. They also
discovered that eating habits, which correlates with self-esteem, would be dictated by
their friend network. This is called social contagion. After a two-year study the
researchers could predict the levels of self-esteem just by looking at the girls current
friend group! They decided that social influences must impact womens self esteem and
become more pronounced when they live with all of their sisters. One major finding was
that women who were already struggling with a low self-esteem joined groups of woman
who also had low self-esteem, as to validate their feelings.
This would contradict the claim that the higher members of sororities, or seniors,
would be the cause of decreasing self-esteem. Instead it would be those closest to them,
rather than those they look up to, that influence them the most. This effect then would

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have no influence on the discourse community as a whole or its success because they
would already have these issues before joining. This article has a couple limitations, for
one, they failed to research girls feelings before the rushing process and after the rushing
process, to see if the formal membership had any effect. Theres a possibility that because
of the stress of rushing their self-esteem lowered. Another limitation was that they
conducted all of their information through polls and surveys, so no personal connection
was involved.
Chapter. Ethnography. 1 Mar. 2015.
Every Sunday each sorority brings all of their members together to talk about the
upcoming week and any announcements they want heard by every sorority sister. This
meeting is essential and happens to be one of the criteria John Swales mentions. During
this meeting there is a clear hierarchy. Each position gives her report with the president
overseeing everyone. This ranking has never come off arrogant or disruptive, if anything
it has always appeared extremely helpful and organized. As I was observing an average
chapter meeting, an unexpected assertiveness came from the chapter advisor, who is alum
that graduated from the chapter and has come back to look over the proceedings.
Although typically, she rarely says anything she became extremely assertive to one of the
sisters, who did not have a position, but spoke out of line in the middle of the
proceedings. At first everyone was very surprised, and taken back by the show of
dominance, some were even agitated. Also observed was that every member gave her
strict attention and reported the necessary information to all of the other members in a
very orderly fashion.
After further thought, I believe this superiority she showed was essential not only
for order, but also for the organization I admired just minutes before. Without this
hierarchy no one would accomplish the amount the things needed to be done in just one
hour. Therefore in order for each sorority to accomplish their goal, the bettering of the
community and themselves, the hierarchy is a necessity. The effort from all of the sisters
was very noticeable. One reason this might originate from is the lengthy rush process.
Through the rush process, potential sisters are hand picked to become active members of
the sorority. This gives the sisters a sense of pride and importance. If it were the
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opposite, girls wouldnt put their whole effort into their position, which could
jeopardize the discourse communitys success.
Landphair, Juliette. "Never Perfect Enough." About Campus 12.1 (2007): 25-27. ERIC. Web. 2
Mar. 2015.
Juliette Landphair, a writer for the journal About Campus and the dean of the University
of Richmonds Westhampton College, describes to her audience the private struggles of
college women (25). She states, the most struggling feat in women is the constant strive
for perfection. True perfectionists, otherwise known as control freaks, always want to be
the best without looking like theyre trying to be the best. This is referred to as effortless
perfection and is incredibly prevalent in sororities (26). A student claimed to her that
there was a significant difference in the appearance of the younger generations that
looked skinnier (due to eating disorders) because they were trying to resemble their role
models, the seniors. The bottom-line of this sweeping obstacle is control, people believe

they have control of their body so they do whatever it takes to achieve that ideal body
image, harming themselves in the process. This would seem that these superior role
models have a negative effect on the self-esteem of the discourse community by giving a
false representation of what it is to be in a sorority. Therefore this expanding gap between
the younger and older members could greatly impede the discourse communitys success.
It is important to consider if this strict membership is the reason girls become
vulnerable and have only the older sisters to look at for guidance. The older members
wouldnt be aware of this reverence the freshman give because theres that disconnection
between the time they were rushed and now. Theyve in turn forgotten the difficult path
that led them there. Landphair connection between hierarchy and self-esteem reiterates
my claim of the influence the seniors as well as rushing has on the self-esteem of younger
girls. Landphairs research is supported by previous writers claims with a unique spin on
the reason behind it.
Macpherson, Allie G. Interview. 4 Mar. 2015.
During this interview, I asked Allie, a member of a sorority at UCF, some questions about
her experience and her honest opinions about the hierarchy and membership process.
Allie expressed her optimistic views of a sorority and what it all means to her. She clearly
defined her sororitys common goal as developing strong academic skills as well as
making honest friendships throughout college. She firmly stated there was no type of
hierarchy that made her feel degraded as a person, but did mention scenarios where the
sorority goes out of their way to make the sisters senior year the best, last year at school.
This includes gifts from friends and secret admirers. Allie felt that this had no negative
effect on the common goal and was a bonding experience for everyone. This view is
important to look at to consider the positive side of sororities; her self-esteem boosted,
she put more effort into her schoolwork, and she made friendships that will last forever.
Also she talked about rush happily and said it was an essential part of being in a sorority,
specifically, the reason I fell in love with my sorority. In this case, rush had a
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positive effect on not only her individual experience but in achieving the entire
groups common goal.
Saville, Bryan K., and Kristen B. Johnson. "Year In College And Sorority Membership In
Predicting Self-Esteem Of A Sample Of College Women." Psychological Reports 3
(2007): 907. Academic OneFile. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Saville, head of the psychology department at James Madison University, and Johnson
researched the correlations between year in college, self-esteem and sorority membership.
In previous research, it was reported that seniors, who were either in a sorority or not, had
higher self-esteem than freshman, and that was supported in Savilles research. This was
reasoned by the possibility that as woman become older they become more acquainted
with their environment (academically and socially) and therefore more comfortable with
themselves. Women who wanted to join a sorority showed a greater amount of selfesteem than women who were not interested in rushing. At a follow up survey, after
women joined a sorority, they reported lowered depression than during rush.

This explains that even though rush can be a stressful time, overall it would
benefit their self-esteem and give the member a positive outlook. From these results, you
would expect someone that was in a sorority and a senior to have the highest self-esteem
but this was not the case. Conversely, there was an equal relation between being a senior
in a sorority and being a senior not in a sorority. This means that being in a sorority had
no effect on seniors, only freshman. This could be because freshmen are more vulnerable
than seniors.
Simerly, Cassie A. Interview. 4 Mar. 2015.
Cassie, who is in a different sorority than Allie, was interviewed over the phone in a very
casual setting, so I could acquire the most honest answers. Cassie had a very different
experience in her sorority. She explained how seniors made her feel alienated by their
arrogance and that rush didnt help achieve any part of the common goal her sorority
shared, which was bettering girls and bringing them together based on common values.
Allie and Cassies goals verbally were very similar, although Cassie said her sorority
sisters warped the meaning and now has corrupted it to fit their individual needs, not the
needs of the entire discourse community. The rush process was also in disagreement with
Cassie, she said it was materialistic and tainted our common goal even more.
This view, although extremely different than most sorority girls, is very important
to look at to see the opposite side of the spectrum. The difference in Cassies experience
could be that her sorority has different values than Allies, or that Cassie has a negative
outlook because she had a bad first impression through rush. She did suggest that all
sororities are different and that is why rush is so important, this one group of about 50
girls that will be initiated decide the direction of the sorority. Every sorority will get a
different group of girls and that determines the communitys common goal. In this
interview, it could be concluded that something drastic needs to be done about both the
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hierarchy and the membership process, before every sorority loses track of their
common goal, and eventually dissipates as a discourse community.
Thompson, Jon G., Jr., Crystal D. Oberle, and Jennifer L. Lilley. "Self-Efficacy And Learning In
Sorority And Fraternity Students." Journal Of College Student Development 52.6- (2011):
749-753. ERIC. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
In this study conducted by Thompson, Oberle, and Lilley they found that students that are
affiliated with sororities have a greater self-efficacy, which is connected with the effort to
learn and the effort to do well on tests, then non-sorority members. But non-sorority
members actually had a better academic performance. This was proven by giving all the
students a 1,700 word article for 10 minutes to read, then they were given a test to
observe how much information was retained. Then were asked the level of effort that was
put in. This study proved that sororities, and fraternity members, have a greater
application of academics but proves to test lower.
A few reasons for this could be the short time the students were given to review
the article. These reports are important to look at to understand the type of women that
join sororities. Sororities look for hard working individuals who dedicate and prioritize
their time. This is why the membership process although difficult is extremely important

in order for sororities to hand pick each member based on these common values. This
reaction to the study proves that sorority members put in more effort into academics,
therefore putting more effort into their discourse communities success.

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Works Cited MLA

Basow, Susan A., Kelly A. Foran, and Jamila Bookwala. "Body Objectification, Social Pressure,
And Disordered Eating Behavior In College Women: The Role Of Sorority Membership."
Psychology Of Women Quarterly 31.4 (2007): 394. Publisher Provided Full Text
Searching File. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Chapter. Ethnography. 1 Mar. 2015.
Landphair, Juliette. "Never Perfect Enough." About Campus 12.1 (2007): 25-27. ERIC. Web. 2
Mar. 2015.
Macpherson, Allie G. Interview. 4 Mar. 2015.

Saville, Bryan K., and Kristen B. Johnson. "Year In College And Sorority Membership In
Predicting Self-Esteem Of A Sample Of College Women." Psychological Reports 3
(2007): 907. Academic OneFile. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Simerly, Cassie A. Interview. 4 Mar. 2015.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Writing About Writing: A College
Reader. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. 2nd Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,
2011. 215-229. Print.
Thompson, Jon G., Jr., Crystal D. Oberle, and Jennifer L. Lilley. "Self-Efficacy And Learning In
Sorority And Fraternity Students." Journal Of College Student Development 52.6- (2011):
749-753. ERIC. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.