Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Adam Barstow |
|---|---|
| Title | The Divergent Consequences of Secret Societies: Effects of Group Membership on Out-Group Discrimination and Collective Self-Esteem |
| Department | Communication & Sociology |
| Advisors | Katie Warber, Stefne Broz, and Brooke Wagner |
| Year | 2017 |
| Honors | Departmental Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (165 KB) |
| Abstract | This study measures the effects of membership in secret societies (either in-group or out-group) on two different variables: out-group discrimination and collective self-esteem. Participants for this study were undergraduate students, attending a small, liberal arts university in the Midwest at which secret societies exist, and were broken into two main groups: members of secret societies and nonmembers of secret societies. Two hypotheses were proposed prior to conducting the study. The first hypothesis, H1, anticipated a greater frequency of discrimination experiences for nonmembers than members. The second hypothesis, H2, predicted that members would have higher levels of self-esteem than nonmembers. Results revealed no statistically significant differences between how the two groups scored on overall experiences of discrimination nor did the results reveal statistically significant differences between the collective self-esteems of the two groups; however, the results did reveal at least two interesting findings. Firstly, more than one third of the sample were either unsure or convinced that professors extend preferential treatment towards members of secret societies. Secondly, membership was a cause for higher levels of private esteem and lower levels of public esteem, meaning members hold more positive opinions about their social groups in general but also report higher levels of belief that others have negative opinions of their social groups. |
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