New book about sorority/fraternity life

[Anonymous]

I read it on my Kindle last night (print version is not available yet). It is a very well-balanced book about relationships in fraternities and sororities by a college professor who has served as a Greek advisor and spent thousands of hours involved in shadowing at recruitment events, attending mixers, etc. Curious to know if anyone else has read it and if so, thoughts.

https://www.amazon.com/Benefits-Friends-Complicated-Sororities-Fraternities-ebook/dp/B09YKMKG3D

[Anonymous]

Does it mention any schools specifically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it mention any schools specifically?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it mention any schools specifically?

The author works at Rollins and discusses a lot of her experience there. Also talks about SMU, GWU, Minnesota, University of North Georgia, UGA, NC State, Harvard, FSU, some others... but more focuses on Greek life as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a really good book actually. But Im not paying 20 dollars for it No skin in that game!

[Anonymous]

Short summary?

[Anonymous]

The author graduated BYU. Received a PhD in English from Duke University.

[Anonymous]

Not interested in reading it, I was Greek and my kids are as well. I don't need a PhD explaining ti to me in order to sell books or publish "research". It's not that deep people.

If you want to, do it, if not, don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not interested in reading it, I was Greek and my kids are as well. I don't need a PhD explaining ti to me in order to sell books or publish "research". It's not that deep people.

If you want to, do it, if not, don't.

Thank you for your contribution to the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not interested in reading it, I was Greek and my kids are as well. I don't need a PhD explaining ti to me in order to sell books or publish "research". It's not that deep people.

If you want to, do it, if not, don't.

Exactly, op just looking to start another unnecessary Greek life thread. It’s all been said already people, move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a really good book actually. But Im not paying 20 dollars for it No skin in that game!

You can read the first couple of chapters for free on Amazon. I was in a sorority, though not a southern one, and found it interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a really good book actually. But Im not paying 20 dollars for it No skin in that game!

It's currently available to borrow as an eBook from Montgomery County Library.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Short summary?

In 2011, Jana Mathews's career took a surprising turn. What began as an effort for a newly minted college professor to get to know her students turned into an invitation to be initiated into a National Panhellenic Conference sorority and serve as its faculty advisor. For the next seven years, Mathews attended sorority and fraternity chapter meetings, Greek Week competitions, leadership retreats, and mixers and formals. She also counseled young men and women through mental health crises, experiences of sexual violence, and drug and alcohol abuse. Combining her personal observations with ethnographic field analysis and research culled from the fields of sociology, economics, and cognitive psychology, this thought-provoking book examines how white Greek letter organizations help reshape the conceptual boundaries of society's most foundational relationship categories—including friend, romantic partner, and family.

Mathews illuminates how organizations manipulate campus sex ratios to foster hookup culture, broker romantic relationships, transfer intimacy to straight same-sex friends, and create fictive family units that hoard social and economic opportunity for their members. In their idealized form, sororities and fraternities function as familial surrogates that tether their members together in economically and socially productive ways. In their most warped manifestations, however, these fictive familial bonds reinforce insularity, entrench privilege, and—at times—threaten physical safety

[Anonymous]

Is there more to Greek life than “drink and get laid”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Short summary?

In 2011, Jana Mathews's career took a surprising turn. What began as an effort for a newly minted college professor to get to know her students turned into an invitation to be initiated into a National Panhellenic Conference sorority and serve as its faculty advisor. For the next seven years, Mathews attended sorority and fraternity chapter meetings, Greek Week competitions, leadership retreats, and mixers and formals. She also counseled young men and women through mental health crises, experiences of sexual violence, and drug and alcohol abuse. Combining her personal observations with ethnographic field analysis and research culled from the fields of sociology, economics, and cognitive psychology, this thought-provoking book examines how white Greek letter organizations help reshape the conceptual boundaries of society's most foundational relationship categories—including friend, romantic partner, and family.

Mathews illuminates how organizations manipulate campus sex ratios to foster hookup culture, broker romantic relationships, transfer intimacy to straight same-sex friends, and create fictive family units that hoard social and economic opportunity for their members. In their idealized form, sororities and fraternities function as familial surrogates that tether their members together in economically and socially productive ways. In their most warped manifestations, however, these fictive familial bonds reinforce insularity, entrench privilege, and—at times—threaten physical safety

I read this snapshot earlier (maybe on Amazon). Seems really boring.