Practicing “sorority rush”: Mockery and the dramatistic rehearsing of organizational conversations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2002
Abstract
This study develops a dramatistic framework that combines Goffinan's social frame of rehearsal and Burke's guilt‐purification‐redemption cycle. The perspective is used to interpret how sororities rehearse the conversations to be performed during the recruitment activity of “rush.”; The study finds that sorority members use mockery in three forms of rehearsal, including demonstrations, question‐and‐answer sequences, and improvised conversations within “bump‐and‐float groups.”; In particular, mockery is used by sorority members to (1) transform or rekey the social frame of rush rehearsals to a “fun”; context, and (2) scapegoat the absent prospective sorority members (i.e., “rushees”) who will be encountered in the recruitment activity of “rush parties.”.
Repository Citation
Scheibel, Dean & Gibson, Katie & Anderson, Carrie. (2002). Practicing “sorority rush”: Mockery and the dramatistic rehearsing of organizational conversations. Communication Studies. Vol 53. No 3. 219-233. DOI: 10.1080/10510970209388587
Comments
LMU users: use the following link to login and access the article via LMU databases.