Party School

“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

"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