Chelsea Hunter

Professor Rood
ENC1101-0118
March 30, 2015
Sororitys Genre and the Affect On Membership and Hierarchy
Sororities were created to guide young girls to become respectable women in society.
Through community involvement, social settings, and philanthropy events sororities
achieve their common goal of bettering the community as well as bettering themselves.
Two parts of sororities that are under constant scrutiny by researchers are the membership
process and the hierarchy within the sorority. Sororities need to be in constant
communication in order for the organization to achieve its common goal. Some modes of
this communication that will be divulged are face to face, Facebook, and Chapter
Minutes. From this inside perspective, it will be shown how sororities multiple forms of
genre help strengthen the hierarchy, and in turn strengthens their goal. Also how the
effect membership has on how younger members use genres.
A few things including, age, position, and experience determine the hierarchy in a
sorority. The type thats the most prevalent and useful is position. The hierarchy in a
sorority greatly resembles our democratic government. Both possess a president, vice
president, and secretary that have to fulfill their positions duties for the entire community
to be successful. If one position fails, the entire system will have to take a step backward.
In a sorority, on average there are about 12 positions with 4 being on an executive board.
Out of 140 girls, these positions are always coveted. Because of this orderly system

sororities have, they are able to reach their full potential and achieve their common goal,
which is to better the community as a whole as well as individually.
The most important genre that will be analyzed is the Facebook page. This is a
private page that every member is a part of. In here we discuss events and updates
throughout the week if chapter isnt soon enough. I chose this genre to analyze because
chapter advisors do not regulate it and anyone can freely post on it, whereas in chapter it
is restricted who can talk. This opens up a level of comfort that would otherwise be
limited, now newer members and older members alike have the ability to speak up. The
page is set up to write a post, add a photo, or add a file, and it is easily equipped to place
a comment underneath the post or like the post to show you agree. Within the past 24
hours there have been 12 posts. Because of the overwhelming posts most members only
look at the post if they know the member posting has a position. This presence of
hierarchy would narrow productivity in the Facebook page and would be the only
downside of this genre. Often in this page, it is the older girls posting announcements,
this could be because they feel more comfortable and have higher self-esteem than the
girls that were newly initiated. Here is an example, this is our president referring to this
weeks chapter;

You can immediately see the use of symbols that would make this post look more
important than others, such as the ***IMPORTANT. Most of the new members do not
post as often as the older members, this correlates to the uncomfortable membership
process the new members just went through. Saville, head of the psychology department
at James Madison University researched the correlation between year in college and selfesteem. He discovered through surveys and reports that seniors had a higher self esteem
due to the more acquainted they felt in school. This self-esteem was enhanced when the
girl was also in a sorority (Saville 907). Even most experienced members would not feel
comfortable assuming that much authority, but our president, the one who posted it, has
to assume this authority to receive everyones attention. There are too many irrelevant
posts that she needed to get this specific message across in a timely fashion.
Another rhetoric strategy that jumps out is the use of pathos. Most girls target the
sisterhood when asking for support on their own project. In this example she targets
pathos by the ~*GeT ExCiTeD*~. The purpose of this excited post is to motivate
sisters even though they know agenda chapters usually go on for hours and is
something not many girls want to attend. This is a very effective use of pathos because
the support will be reciprocated. Another use of pathos is the use of exclamation marks
and excited voices. This will get members to respond in the same helpful, excited tone.
To most, this is compelling, but to the few who prefer logos more, this could come off as
a loss of credibility because they rely more on facts rather than feelings. Laura Carroll,
from author of Backpacks Vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis describes
pathos in this way, Few of us are persuaded only with our mind, though. Even if we
intellectually agree with something, it is difficult to get us to act unless we are also

persuaded in our heart. This kind of appeal to emotion is called pathos. Pathetic appeals
(as rhetoric that draws on pathos is called) used alone without logos and ethos can come
across as emotionally manipulative or overly sentimental, but are very powerful when
used in conjunction with the other two appeals (Carroll 9). Our discourse communitys
lexis also comes out extensively on this page, because they understand members will be
accustomed to these words. For example the words, Black Diamond and Agenda Chapter
are unique to this individual sorority. The sororitys goal is to better the community and
this is widely done by girls posting opportunities on Facebook to participate and donate
to. Without it, there wouldnt be an immediate response from a sister who can help better
serve our community. Intertextuality is a large part of the Facebook page, posts from
Facebook can come from other texts varying from the entire Panhellenic Community or
from a club on the UCF campus. This enables every member to know whats going on
from big organizations to smaller ones, which in turn makes the common goal more
attainable for each member.
A couple ways the statuses can be observed are through weekly meetings referred
to as Chapter and through our everyday use of genre. Chapter is a way each position can
come forward and give the entire sorority information for the week on upcoming events
or their specific positions events. Two genres can be observed in a chapter, a face-to-face
communication and on our chapter minutes. The president runs this meeting with the
Chapter Advisor, an alumni who represents the organization itself, watching over. This
gives the meeting and those in positions ethos, or credibility. The presidents rule over the
proceedings help move along this meeting in a timely fashion, while still reminding us of
our values and goals. If this hierarchy wasnt as strong, every weeks chapter would be

unsuccessful and long, which would cause girls to be less likely to work as hard as they
do now. Similarly, if the hierarchy was taken advantage of by anyone the one above them
can remind them of their goals, for example if the president abused her power the chapter
advisor would step in temporarily.
Another genre sororities use on a weekly basis are chapter minutes. Generally,
chapter minutes are a paper overview of each position, a summary of what she will
briefly discuss when her position is called to stand. The first thing noticed when looking
at the minutes is that it starts with the lowest position and ends with the presidents
position. This is to keep members focused throughout the whole chapter or else they
would get distracted or leave after her report. Also this is so she can address anything that
was said by the lower positions and if needed, motivate the sorority in a speech to boost
morale. Because the minutes are handed out as soon as we walk into the chapter room,
girls will briefly look over and highlight sections they value more. This allows girls to be
prepared for each positions questions or requests. For example, on the minutes it could
say Dates to save. Members would then have their planner ready to mark on. This
increases productivity by saving lots of time that would normally be spent waiting for
everyone to get ready for the dates she would announce. The second thing noticed on the
minutes is that many positions only have something positive to report or they are
rewarding someone for doing an exceptional job. This is extremely important for the
discourse community as a whole to survive. The main goal is to better the community,
yes, but also to better themselves. It is the job of each individual sister to help achieve
this goal. Its easy to say Yesterday we raised $100! but when you say Amanda raised
$75 of that $100, go her! it instantly drives you to be praised too. This is something like

an instantaneous morale boost. Every member understands that if she strives to better the
sorority or herself, her work will not go unnoticed by her fellow sisters. This doesnt just
influence the goal, this is the goal.
Analyzing these few genres can give a certain insight into the sororitys hierarchy
that will further benefit the future goal. Through Facebook we can see a casual
representation of rhetoric used by members of all positions, and through the analysis of
the presidents post, we can see the often use of ethos. With Chapter Minutes, we can see
the hierarchy on a formal level and how restrictions and authority can benefit the
sororitys productivity. With face-to-face interaction we can observe the organizations
higher authority, the authority the individual sorority doesnt have any control over and
how it effects our morale. All in all, these genres all benefit our common goal of bettering
the community and ourselves, while also benefiting the hierarchy.

Works Cited
Carroll, Laura. Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis. 45-58.
Print.