Secret society is a term used to describe a variety of organizations. Although the exact meaning of the term is disputed, several of the definitions advanced indicate a degree of secrecy and secret knowledge, which might include denying membership or knowledge of the group and possibly negative consequences for acknowledging membership, strong ties between members of the organization, and frequently rites or rituals which outsiders are generally not permitted to observe.

Definition

Several definitions for the term have been put forward. The term "secret society" is used to describe fraternal organizations that may have secret ceremonies, ranging from the common and innocuous (collegiate fraternities) to mythical organizations described in conspiracy theories as immensely powerful, with self-serving financial or political agendas, global reach, and often luciferian beliefs.

Application of the term is often hotly disputed, as it can be seen as perjorative. Very frequently, a pair of opposing parties can accuse each other of being secret societies and yet refusing to accept the term for themselves, (such as Freemasons and Jesuits).

Therefore, the criteria that can be adopted as a definition for the term are important for which organizations any one definition would include or exclude. One author, Alan Axelrod, author of the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders, defines a secret society as possessing three characteristics. These are that the organization is exclusive, it claims to own special secrets, and it shows a strong inclination to favor its own. A second author, David V. Barrett, author of Secret Societies: From the Ancient and Arcane to the Modern and Clandestine, uses slightly different terms to define what does and does not qualify as a secret society. He defines it as any group that possesses the following characteristics: it has "carefully graded and progressed teachings" that are "available only to selected individuals". These teachings lead to "hidden (and 'unique') truths" that bring "personal benefits beyond the reach and even the understanding of the uninitiated." Barrett goes on to say that "a further characteristic common to most of them is the practice of rituals which non-members are not permitted to observe, or even to know the existence of." Unfortunately, Barrett's definition would rule out many organizations called secret societies; (American college fraternities do not have graded teachings, nor did groups like the Carbonari, the Know Nothing Whigs or any of the political secret societies). Any author can construct a definition to include Freemasonry, or exclude criminal gangs, or to do the opposite.

Oath taking

Many societies require members to take an oath at membership. Parts of an oath can include a promise to support the organization, to keep its secrets, that the new member will conceal or deny their membership in the organization. Sometimes the oaths include penalties for not living up to the oath. Oath-taking itself can be considered a prohibited activity in many religions, including some versions of Protestantism and Catholicism. Other objections to oaths may not implicate the oath-taking itself, but some parts of an oath, such as the well known penalties in Freemasonry, or that the member may be obligated to lie, or even to deny membership.

Politics

Since some secret societies have political aims, they are illegal in several countries. Poland has made the ban of secret political parties and political organizations a part of its constitution. Not all secret societies are perceived as a threat by the existing political establishment. The Lateral Line, a socially-reforming high-IQ society founded in the Bahamas in 1964, became increasingly connected to the US and British governments through its civil service and intelligence community membership. These private individuals tended to introduce new members from their own fields of work and, by 1969, non-accountable government agencies gained democratic control over the society, prompting the resignation of many founding members. The Lateral Line has, over the last two decades, become an autonomous advisory group to US, UK and Swiss government departments on such diverse subjects as the economic impact of climate change, global food and population controls and commercial globalisation.

Colleges and universities

Many student societies established on university campuses in the United States have been considered secret societies. These such collegiate secret societies are like the F.H.C. Club, (1750), and Phi Beta Kappa, (1776), both founded at William & Mary. The most famous member of the F.H.C. Club was Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. In correspondence, Jefferson noted that the F.H.C. Club served "no useful object." Perhaps one of the most famous secret college societies is the Skull and Bones at Yale, of which both presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry are members from their college years.

Groups disputed as "secret societies"

The term "secret societies" could include criminal organizations, such as the Triad, Yakuza or the Cosa Nostra organizations.

The United States National Security Agency has been described as a secret society, since for many years, its very existence was a secret, as was its budget. People (such as James Bamford, in The Puzzle Palace, 1982) used to say that the letters NSA stood for "No Such Agency" or "Never Say Anything"; and, in the early 1990s, the CIA had a website but the NSA did not. This has changed: The NSA has had a website for several years, and its activities are debated in Congress and the press. Its budget is still classified, but it officially exists. Its activities are authorized and are paid for, although the details of those activities are closely-held secrets.

See also

• Secret societies in popular culture
• Collegiate secret societies in North America
• Secret combination (Latter Day Saints)

References

Notes

External links

• Major media articles on secret societies — Collection of one-paragraph excerpts with links to original articles
• Secret Societies: a very short history — Documents and illustrations of Freemasons, Jesuits, Illuminati, Carbonari, Burschenschaften and other putative secret societies and clandestine organizations

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