Party School: Crime, Campus, and Community

by Karen G. Weiss

Overview

On the basis of extensive on-site research, Karen G. Weiss offers a case study of crime victimization at an American “party school” that reverberates beyond a single campus. She argues that today’s party school—usually a large public university with a big sports program and an active Greek life—represents a unique environment that nurtures and rewards extreme drinking, which in turn increases the risks of victimization and normalizes bad behavior of students who are intoxicated. Weiss shows why so many students voluntarily place themselves at risk, why so few crimes are reported to police, and why victims often shrug off their injuries and other negative consequences as the acceptable cost of admission to a party.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555538200
Publisher:	Northeastern University Press
Publication date:	08/13/2013
Series:	New England Gender, Crime & Law
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

KAREN G. WEISS is an associate professor of sociology at West Virginia University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Welcome to the Party School
OVERVIEW
Situating the Party School
Contextualizing the Party Lifestyle
PARTY UNIVERSITY: A CASE STUDY
Introducing Party University
Playing Hard: Students’ Drinking and Drug Routines
Getting Wasted: Extreme Party Rituals and Risks
Flirting with Danger: Criminal Consequences of the Party Subculture
Party Disturbances: Secondhand Harms to Campus and Community
Rationales in Defense of the Party Subculture
Conclusion: Sobering Reflections of the Party School
Appendix A. Research Methods
Appendix B. Data Tables
Appendix C. Student Conduct Codes and Regulations
Appendix D. Official Crime Statistics for Party University and Ptown
Notes
Works Cited
Index

What People are Saying About This

Richard Tewksbury

“Both an indictment of the party-at-all-costs lifestyle and a fascinating cultural study of an in-plain-sight yet often unrecognized world that consumes, endangers, thrills, and victimizes students and communities, this book is sure to stimulate discussion, debate, and policy and programming to control a culture that has clearly become out of control.”

Bonnie Fisher

“Through her explanations of the social forces that shape the party subculture and its associated crime and victimization risks, Karen Weiss transforms the party school from a bunch of young adults who routinely get drunk and engage in a range of stupid to criminal behaviors into a theoretically grounded explanation of party schools. Her work is superior.”

Michael Kimmel

“Every weekend many college campuses turn into party schools, where sports rule and sketchy sexual encounters are in plentiful supply. Weiss asks why students want this, and she holds the schools accountable. Recognizing that it’s not a few bad apples, but the porous basket holding the apples, Weiss points the way to a far more comprehensive understanding of these problems, and thus a more effective way to address them.”

From the Publisher

"Through her explanations of the social forces that shape the party subculture and its associated crime and victimization risks, Karen Weiss transforms the party school from a bunch of young adults who routinely get drunk and engage in a range of stupid to criminal behaviors into a theoretically grounded explanation of party schools. Her work is superior." —Bonnie Fisher, professor, School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati

"Every weekend many college campuses turn into party schools, where sports rule and sketchy sexual encounters are in plentiful supply. Weiss asks why students want this, and she holds the schools accountable. Recognizing that it's not a few bad apples, but the porous basket holding the apples, Weiss points the way to a far more comprehensive understanding of these problems, and thus a more effective way to address them."

—Michael Kimmel, author of Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men

"Both an indictment of the party-at-all-costs lifestyle and a fascinating cultural study of an in-plain-sight yet often unrecognized world that consumes, endangers, thrills, and victimizes students and communities, this book is sure to stimulate discussion, debate, and policy and programming to control a culture that has clearly become out of control." —Richard Tewksbury, Ph.D., professor of justice administration, University of Louisville

Editorial Reviews

Weiss does an excellent job of illustrating just how effectively party subcultures normalize injury, abuse, and victimization. those on the front lines of student life will gain a greater understanding of the stresses and strains party subcultures create for students. Party School makes an important contribution to a growing body of sociological and higher education literature on the experiential core of college, or what happens in the years between entering and exiting college.”—American Journal of Sociology

From the Publisher