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Garrett Honeycutt
4/8/14
Mrs. Steele
ENGL 1102
Digging Deeper Hazing.
Going back to eighth grade, there was this kid named Dylan who was very annoying, but all he
wanted to do was fit in. My friends and I would make him do a variety of things that we thought
were funny in order for him to be considered a part of the group. At the time, he was clueless
as to what he was going through, which was HAZING. At the time, it was funny watching him
make a fool of himself and my friends and I would all laugh hysterically. Well he started to get a
big head and became arrogant towards us. He was just kidding around and doing as we did, but
after a while, it got annoying to the point where my friends Adam and Sam actually hit him and
pushed him into a locker. As I watched, I began to feel bad about the whole situation and so did
my friends. After that, we all apologized and stopped the hazing. He was still annoying, but it got
better and we learned to accept him little by little.
It was not until college that the term hazing was formally introduced to me. I had heard
stories about hazing and seen movies about college hazing, but since I have never been in a
college environment before, I had not paid much attention to the term or what it even was. It was
not until this inquiry project that the actions portrayed in the story above were actual acts of
hazing as opposed to bullying. The definition of bullying is: using superior strength or influence
to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants (google). Usually in
a case of hazing, it is a person or group of superiors using their power to force others into
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completing tasks which may be embarrassing or intimidating to that person or group of people. It
is believed that hazing is a form of bullying; the real separation between hazing and bullying is
that bullying has no purpose of initiation, but otherwise, hazing and bullying are the same abuse
of power. Bullying excludes the victim from a group whereas hazing is a ritual imposed on a
person who wants to join a group. Bullies often act alone or in small groups, but hazing
commonly involves an entire group or team. According to one article, bullying can come in six
different forms: physical, verbal, relational, cyber, sexual, and prejudicial (Gordon). When
hazing, the hazers use these types of bullying to show superiority over the people being hazed.
People feel like that in order to fit in they have to gain the respect of their elders which can be
pretty intimidating, but only makes sense, if and only if, the people being hazed ultimately gain
the respect they deserve. In conclusion, the best way to connect the two subjects is to categorize
hazing as an unofficial form of bullying. As broad as this sounds, the two topics are so closely
related that the only difference between the two is that people who haze do it as a form of
initiation, and people who bully do it as an exclusion of someone from a certain group.
Hazing is a process that occurs in most of todays society including: fraternities,
sororities, the military, and on sports teams. One question that comes to mind is why do people
haze? Well according to Aldo Cimino, a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at UC Santa
Barbara, one of the reasons people haze is to protect veteran members from threats posed by
newcomers. In this article he states, Abusing newcomers hazing may have served to
temporarily alter their behavior, as well as select out uncommitted newcomers when membership
was non-obligatory" (Estrada, 2013). This does bring some light as to why people haze.
Superiority is something that current members of an organization look forward to utilizing when
bringing in new members to that organization, but it can oftentimes be overused and in a
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dangerous matter if not regulated. Everyone wants to pick on the new guy, or in this case, a
group of new people, but why? Everyone feels the need to fit in to a socioeconomic class which
is why a lot of people go through the process of hazing. In the back of their mind, hazing is a part
of initiation and to prove your worth, you have to show that you will do whatever necessary to be
a part of that organization. Dr. Susan Lipkins, a psychologist for 25 years, has interviewed
everyone involved in a hazing, including victims, bystanders and perpetrators. She describes the
Perfect Storm Theory as to why people haze including the ten conditions of hazing: Human
Nature, Developmental Needs, Traditions and Initiation Rites, Circumstances, Personalities and
Emotional States, Dynamics of the Group, Personality and Style of Adult leader, Sado-
masochistic Paradigm, Attitudes toward Authority, Unconscious Psychological Forces (Lipkins).
Each of these conditions is a contributor as to why people haze and shed light on why hazing has
existed for as long as it has without change.
Although hazing can be a broad area of research, there are three common groups that
hazing can be broken down into: subtle hazing, harassment hazing, and violent hazing. Subtle
hazing is often thought harmless or meaningless and usually is used to show the power
imbalance between new members of an organization and others veteran members of a group or
organization. Harassment hazing include behaviors that cause emotional anguish or physical
discomfort in order to feel like part of the group, and lastly, violent hazing includes behaviors
that have the potential to cause physical and/or emotional, or psychological harm (Enrolment).
Whether you are in middle school, high school, college, or the military, it is always good
to know your surrounding environment and conditions that come with living or being in that
environment. If nothing else I hope this essay informed you on hazing and how to spot it the next
time you see it being practiced.
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Citation Page
1) http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2013/03394/why-do-people-haze
2) http://insidehazing.com
3) http://deanofstudents.lsu.edu/types-hazing