Hazing Research Papers

A common myth is that hazing is a “reality” in Frats and sororities. We've all seen it in movies and we've all heard stories from our friends. Hazing can be defined as people or individuals who are forced to do something that is psychologically, physically, or emotionally harmful or damaging (Merriam Webster). Greek organizations all over the world have taken steps in developing human rights policies and strict “anti-hazing” policies to get rid of hazing in all forms from all campuses and fraternities. In the 1980s the movie “Animal House”, became a hit. The movie’s “mocking” of the wild side of fraternity life: binge drinking, hazing, sexual harassment, wild parties, drug use, and poor living conditions, became the American public’s view of Greek life. Many television movies and shows depict the ‘crazy side,’ of Greek life and choose to show its negative side. In doing so, many movies and shows do forget to showcase the beneficial side of joining a Sorority or fraternity and show its positive

The other portion of rape culture that is especially dominant in fraternities and athletes is the role of secrecy. These social groups are so tightly knit that they learn from each other and support each other no matter what. The loyalty of peer support from the members comes hand in hand with brotherhood and a team. They have a group secrecy that forbids revealing the unexpected behavior of others in order to protect members within the group, as well as the group’s reputation. As Hummer (1989) notes, “brotherhood norms require sticking together regardless of right or wrong”. This secrecy allows fraternity brothers and athletes to justify and endorse rape, because they have the support from their closest friends. These “members are admonished to avoid getting the fraternity in trouble” (Hummer, 1989), shows how this “brotherhood” built in a fraternity does everything in their power to be safeguarded from negative criticism. Not only will these men keep each other’s secrets, but they also commend and encourage these actions. Said by a fraternity pledge whom had previously dropped from the fraternity, “Those guys are sick. They like seeing you suffer” (Hummer,1989), shows how these men in fraternities treat these woman, and even their own

The memoir “The College Hazing That Changed My Life” written by Thomas Rogers, is about a freshman in college who experience hazing in a rowing team until they received an eye-opening revelation. Hazing is a major problem throughout the world, a tradition that embarrasses or shame a group of fresh participant to a particular group. A tradition that can be “traced back to the Europe in the Middle Ages where it was known as pennalism” (History – StopHazing). In the first paragraph, it states an important fact about the author that is a repetitious word throughout the memoir, it states that he is a homoerotic male during the time of the hazing. The memoir describes how spiteful and futile hazing is, and it’s often only used to target freshman with superiority.

In Greek fraternities, a culture that supports and encourages sexual violence thrives. My paper will focus on the relationship between the fraternity culture and lack of response that creates this life-ruining problem. The topic is important to all college students because of the lifelong consequences to both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence.

Black fraternities and sororities face different challenges than white ones but both groups can be corrupted by twisted power dynamics. Hazing has been prominent in fraternities and sororities since the 1400 but did not become prevalent in black fraternities and sororities until Alpha Phi Alpha was founded in 1906 and Alpha Kappa Alpha in 1908. Then later on when the rest of the divine nine was founded.

Hazing is a very serious issue throughout America. Hazing, by definition, is any action or

Hazing as we know it today is most commonly to initiate members into a fraternity, sorority, or club of some sort. Hazing’s roots go into Ancient Greece when Plato first observed the occurrence and wrote about it in one of his works. The first sign of the term “hazing” appeared in the 16th century, when veteran soldiers would harass new sailors whenever the weather would create a haze. The integration of hazing in American society occurred in the 19th century after the Civil War. Before the war, university fraternities were a place to exchange ideas which most students did not find too engaging. After the war, the meaning of university fraternities had evolved to strengthen bonds with one another. The war put not optimal events and situations, which made soldiers strengthen bonds between one another. Fraternities would often replicate the traumatic events that occurred during the war to strengthen bonds between the recruits and the organization. The fraternities would base hazing rituals on stories their fathers or grandfathers who had participated in the war. Three hazing related deaths occurred in the

The air is saturated with the smell of concrete and fear. The wailing of men echoes through the dark, unholy halls. A new face makes its way in. Only thing harder than holding back tears, are trying to not show fear. They will feed of it, off of me. It will not break me; I will not break. This is what to expect from an evil place where grown men can be molded; broken and reformed into a weaker being or into a strong piece of iron. The Stanford Prison Experiment was a study put together by Phillip Zambardo to test the psychological effects of a prisoner and guard scenario in a mock prison setting. The experiment lasted seven to fourteen days and was comprised of twenty-four male students, who were picked at random to take part in the experiment. The role of guard and prisoner were also selected at random. The mock prisoners were subjugated to psychological abuse, harsh authoritarian rule by the guards, and intense living conditions to ensure maximum results were met. The experiment concluded early and a couple prisoners left due to an intense amount of stress brought on from the ordeal. Although the experiment was brief, it gave a great deal of insight into how environment can abruptly affect the psychological well-being of an individual. Zimbardo states, “Would those good people, put in that bad, evil place—would their goodness triumph?” (Cherry, 2006) Everyone has darkness within them and all it takes is a little push. Every person picked for this experiment was not

The Milgram Obedience Study was an experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in 1963 to observe how far people would obey instructions that resulted in harming another individual. The experiment consisted of a “learner” engaging in a memory task and a “teacher” testing the “learner” on the task, administering electrical shocks to the “learner” each time an incorrect answer was given; the electric shocks started out small from 15 volts, labeled as “SLIGHT SHOCK”, all the way to 450 volts, labeled as “X X X”—of course, that was what the participant was told. The true purpose of the experiment was not disclosed until after the experiment and the “random selection” of who would be the “teacher” or “learner” was rigged so that the participant was always the “teacher” and the “learner” was always an actor. The shocks, naturally, were never given to the “learner”, and the “learner” gave responses that were scripted, both in answers to the questions and in responses to the shocks.

The movie, Burning Sands, is an exploration of the seriousness of hazing on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In connection to class discussion, Burning Sands is an analysis of the complexity of social influence within fraternities on a HBCU’s campus. Burning Sands follows the journey of five pledges (possible future members of the fraternity) in their final week of pledging for the fraternity, Lambda Phi (fraternity created for the movie). The “Big Brothers” (members already a part of the fraternity) complicate the final week of pledging with severe and cruel mistreatment. The pledges must decide if inclusion into Lambda Phi is worth the risk of losing dignity and pride. In the movie, Lambda Phi exert social influence on

In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues created the experiment known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo wanted to investigate further into human behavior, so he created this experiment that looked at the impact of taking the role of a prisoner or prison guard. These researchers examined how the participants would react when placed in an institutionalized prison environment. They set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building. Twenty four undergraduate students were selected to play the roles of both prisoners and guards. These students were chosen because they were emotional, physically, and mentally stable. Though the experiment was expected to last two weeks, it only lasted six days after the researchers and participants became aware of the harm that was being done.

Hazing in universities across the nation has become an increasingly dangerous ritual that is seemingly becoming more difficult to put an end to due to its development into an “underground” activity. Though a regular activity in the seventies, hazing, a possible dangerous act of initiation to a group, has now become an activity that is banned in thirty-nine states (Wagner 16). However, this ritual has not been stopped or become less severe. In fact it is becoming more dangerous. Since it has been banned, with many colleges imposing their own penalties against those participating in it, many fraternities and sororities have pursued this activity in an underground fashion. Since these groups have gone underground, some victims of these

Often times hazing is a big problem we see occurring in our society. Whether it is occurring within a sports team, sorority, school, friends, or even a group of co-workers, we hear about it on a relatively frequent basis. Often times hazing stories are justified by the person committing the act of hazing and over dramatized by the media. Conducting a full study on whether hazing actually exists and the multiple ways it exists can help members of our society to further understand the implications of the action. Throughout this study the definition of hazing has been explored as well as superfluous examples to prove hazing is prominent in our society and laws and actions taken against

Hazing is one of the fastest rising problems in America. "Hazing" has caused many deaths and psychological problems to its victims. Hazing humiliates, and degrades individuals. People have heard of hazing recently due to the deaths of many kids and teenagers. Hazing used to be thought of as harmless and was considered to be harmless pranks with college students in fraternities. Today, hazing is experienced by boys/men and girls/women in school groups, university organizations, athletic teams, the military, and other social and professional organizations.

Hazing can take place anywhere whether it be high school, college, sports, or fraternities. Other terms used for hazing are “hell week”, “help week”, and “initiation”. When one is trying to determine whether or not the situation is considered hazing there are many signs he/she could look for. Some examples include the following questions: is alcohol involved?, are there any risk of emotional or physical abuse?, and is there a risk of injury? (University of North Carolina Wilmington). If the answer to any of these is yes, then it would be considered some form of hazing. A study taking place at Alfred University shows that 1.5 million high school students have experienced some form of hazing. Forty-eight percent of students who belong to groups have reported to experiencing hazing behavior. These incidents can range anywhere between alcohol abuse to forcing one to commit a crime. Victims of hazing may hide the truth, whether they be embarrassed or they risk the chance of getting in a lot of trouble. While you may not notice it at first there are always signs to look for when searching for hazing activity. Some signs include excessive fatigue, wearing odd clothing, isolating themselves, skipping or missing class, and feeling depressed. Many parents are not aware of their child experiencing hazing activity. Although, now many of victims have decided to speak out about there encounters.