A quantitative examination of social justice orientation among members of a historically white sorority.

Abstract

Although past scholarship has explored the relationship between sorority and fraternity life (SFL) involvement and one's openness to diversity and challenge, existing literature has not thoroughly examined how participating in SFL organizations informs members' orientation toward social justice, especially from a quantitative approach. This study sought to make this intervention by investigating the context of a historically white National Panhellenic Conference sorority. Using longitudinal data from 2,985 students at 102 institutions in the United States, this critically oriented quantitative study leveraged multilevel modeling to understand the identity-and context-based characteristics associated with National Panhellenic Conference sorority members' social justice orientations. Results indicated how measures of sisterhood, climate, and identities/political views predicted social justice orientations. We then provide implications for research and practice with the hopes of promoting socially just cultures within SFL.