What is the first thing that comes to your head when you hear the word ‘college’? For many, it is the academics and the value a higher education can bring to your future career. For others, it is partying and living freely without your parents being there watching over you. A common element instilled into the brains of those who want to go to college and have a good time is to join greek life. Greek life turns boys into men! How? Might you ask, pledging a fraternity is your answer. Fraternities have a terrible reputation, aren’t they all in it for the brotherhood and philanthropy? That answer is no, partying and hazing have become the largest component when rushing a fraternity. You’ve probably seen the deranged stories about fraternity hazing and how out of hand it can get; but that’s only the stories you see in the media, the untold stories are much worse.
Another event that has similar behavior patterns as fraternity hazing is the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. For those who don’t know what this experiment entailed, here’s the rundown: this experiment used role playing of being a prisoner and prison guard to see how the participants would conform to their given roles and duties. This experiment was considered extremely controversial, unethical, and ultimately immoral because of its results. The findings were that within hours of beginning the experiment the behavior of the guards began to change. The guards took their role of being an authoritative figure to the next level. They developed a very sadistic mindset and began to torment the prisoners, physically and mentally pushing them beyond the limit.
Both fraternity brothers and prison guards were the authoritative figures in the given situation. Being given a position of authority and responsibility can get into someone’s head. When you’re a brother in a fraternity and recruitment comes around ideas will arise in your head, hazing comes to mind. Yelling orders at pledges strokes a brother’s ego beyond compare and the power gets to their head. This is very similar to how prison guards treat prisoners except in a controlled environment such as Stanford’s basement, not a frat house.
Who would’ve thought such behavior exists outside of REAL prison? Well, here in 2016 in the beautiful country of America, fraternities exhibit such rituals. Fraternities attempt to keep their ‘ceremonies’ a secret but in many cases they become publicized. Pledging a fraternity is a lot like volunteering yourself for the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. Signing up to be tormented, bullied, and pushed beyond compare, is what pledging a fraternity consists of.
McLeod, Saul. "Stanford Prison Experiment." Simply Psychology. N.p., 15 Sept. 2016. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.
