Blog 10: Chapter 10: Students Mix and Match

Sperber again discusses the four subcultures that make up collegiate life. Just to remind you, they are the collegiate, academic, vocational and rebel subcultures. The collegiate students who enter school typically have friends from their good old hometown. These friends belong to fraternities or sororities and consist of the same “subculture.” During the 1950’s and 1960’s fights often erupted between the collegiate and the rebels. However, by the time the good old 80’s came rolling around, collegiate students were partying with the rebels. Collegiate students admitted to following the Grateful Dead, hanging out with the frat brothers, holding season tickets to both basketball and football games and partaking in drugs at their houses. One collegiate student who majored in history had nearly a perfect GPA, worked twenty hours a week, been accepted to Berkley for grad school but crewed it all up. Why? He dropped out of school, followed his best friend and his girl to Mexico because this was his rebel phase. “What a waste, financially and intellectually. Also I missed a whole Big Ten basketball season...” (Sperber 102).