Sororities as empowering social space : challenging existing discourses

Abstract

The literature on sororities and sorority involvement is fairly sparse and the majority of it is negative in nature. Through an examination of literature, and interviews with a two key informants, mixed with the addition of autoethnographic research, this study seeks to answer the question: do sororities have the potential to be an empowering social space? While the literature review focused on all the many negative dimensions of sorority involvement, the interviews with the key informants and the autoethnographical experience of the researcher provide evidence that sororities are an empowering space for young women and that they have the potential to act as an access route to the public sphere.