Life in a fraternity or sorority carries social, academic, networking, and leadership roles and implications. Our group looked at the geography of the 'greek life' identity through the three lenses of the empericist, constructivist, and critical theory approaches.



Empriricist

The empiricist approach would look to examine the identity is a quantifiable and tangible way, so as to map or graph and learn from concrete data. We see the empiricist geography of frats/sororities as being always located on campus, many times on a main road in campus and having multiple greek houses lined up in a row. Within these houses is a system of heirarchy that people adhere to. The houses only admit a certian number of people per year, and there are rules that everyone must pledge and adhere to as well.



Critical Theory

The critical theory approach tends to look at how a class system is created through processes in society and claims that when class is established, so is conflict among differing classes in relation to who has access to better resources and such. We looked at the way greek students network and become a part of a bigger structure that can help them gain contacts across the country. Not only is a class created out of this on campus where greek students hold claim to the best parties and hottest people, as well as those focused on academic advancement having a leg up in the educational political scene, but people also gain a leg-up in the real world when they are putting down thier fraternal/sorority experiences on a resume or being able to connect with people who share a background in greek life. There is also a conflict created between the accepted and the rejected, or people who want to see themselves as alligning with a certian group of 'desireable' people. This effect has its place in college campuses and the workforce all over the country.



Constructivist

The constructivist approach examines how society creates traits and roles that are seen as the norm and even naturally occuring. We see this as covering the stereotypes of greek life, some of which are true to certian situations, and some of which are unfairly applied to good people. Greek students are seen as the social elite among campus residents. They are the pretty, the rich, the privilaged, the fun-seekers, and the heavy drinkers. To be accepted into the greek indentity, there are certian ways of looking and behaving that must be conformed to the norm or one will not be accepted. Our group has two members who have first person experience with greek life, and they confirm that this is the case. There's a confidence that comes with being accepted that one must eminate in all endeavours.