ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an analysis of the influence of one’s fellow students, whether these be friends, acquaintances, enemies, or none of these, and whether or not they are in the same curricular or residential setting. As socializing institutions, colleges and universities have the task of influencing students so that they leave the campus with improved or different knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values. The values, norms, and shared orientations and expectations of a student culture are in part passed along from one generation of students to the next and in part rediscovered, or at least reinforced, by each succeeding generation as it passes through similar experiences. Students in the collegiate subculture, while strongly attached and loyal to their college, are resistant or indifferent to serious intellectual demands. There is reason to believe that much of whatever impact colleges have upon their students flows through channels represented by subcultures of one or both kinds.
