A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla warfare insurgencies, that hide their activities and memberships but maintain a public presence.
Secret societies may be community-based or associated with colleges and universities. These societies exist in countries around the world.
Definitions
The exact qualifications for labeling a group a secret society are disputed, but definitions generally rely on the degree to which the organization insists on secrecy and might involve the retention and transmission of secret knowledge, the denial of membership or knowledge of the group, the creation of personal bonds between members of the organization, and the use of secret rites or rituals.
Anthropology and historically, secret societies have been deeply interlinked with the concept of the Männerbund, the all-male "warrior-band" or "warrior-society" of pre-modern cultures (see H. Schurtz, Alterklassen und Männerbünde, Berlin, 1902; A. Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage, Chicago, 1960).
A purported "family tree of secret societies" has been proposed, although it may not be comprehensive.[Stevens (1899), p. vii.]
Alan Axelrod, author of the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders,[Checkmark Books (1998), ] defines a secret society as an organization that:
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is exclusive
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claims to own special secrets
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shows a strong inclination to favor its members.
Historian Richard B. Spence[Spence, Richard B. The Real History of Secret Societies (2019), The Great Courses] of the University of Idaho offered a similar three-pronged definition:
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The group's existence is usually not kept secret, but some beliefs or practices are concealed from the public and require an oath of secrecy and loyalty to learn.
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The group promises superior status or knowledge to members.
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The group's membership is in some way restrictive, such as by race, sex, religious affiliation, or invitation only.
Spence also proposes a sub-category of "
Elite Secret Societies" (composed of high-income or socially
Social influence people) and notes that secret societies have a frequent if not universal tendency towards factionalism, infighting, and claiming origins older than can be reliably documented. Spence's definition includes groups traditionally thought of as secret societies (
Freemasons and
Rosicrucians) and other groups not so traditionally classified such as certain organized crime cabals (
Sicilian Mafia), religious groups (Order of Assassins and
Thelema) and political movements (
and Black Dragon Society).
Historian Jasper Ridley says that Freemasonry is "the world's most powerful secret Society".[ see also Jeffers, H. Paul. Freemasons: A History and Exploration of the World's Oldest Secret Society. (Citadel Press, 2005).]
The organization "Opus Dei" (Latin for "Work of God") is portrayed as a "secret society"
The National Christian Association (1868–1983) is an example of an organization opposed to secret societies.[ ]
Realms
Politics
Because some secret societies have
Politics aims, they are illegal in several countries.
Italy (Constitution of Italy, Section 2, Articles 13–28) and
Poland,
for example, ban secret political parties and political organizations in their constitutions.
Colleges and universities
Many student societies established on university campuses in the United States have been considered secret societies. Perhaps one of the most famous secret collegiate societies is Skull and Bones at
Yale University.
The influence of undergraduate secret societies at colleges such as
Harvard College, Cornell University, Florida State University, Dartmouth College,
Emory University, the University of Chicago,
the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, New York University,
and Wellesley College has been publicly acknowledged, if
Anonymity and circumspectly, since the 19th century.
British universities have a long history of secret societies or quasi-secret clubs, such as Pitt Club at Cambridge University,[D.T.W. Price. A History of Saint David's University College, Lampeter. University of Wales Press, Cardiff. Volume One, to 1898 ()] Another British secret society is the Cambridge Apostles, founded as an essay and debating society in 1820. Not all British universities host solely academic secret societies; both The Night Climbers of Cambridge and The Night Climbers of Oxford require both brains and brawn.
In France, Vandermonde is the secret society of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.
Notable examples in Canada include Episkopon at the University of Toronto's Trinity College and the Society of Thoth at the University of British Columbia.
Secret societies are disallowed in a few colleges. The Virginia Military Institute has rules that no cadet may join a secret society,[ "Revised codes were issued every few years, but not many important changes were made in them. Provisions with regard to the hours of 'athletic exercises and sport' were added in 1847. In the same revision, there appeared for the first time the 'peculiar' Oberlin rule against secret societies. 'No student,' it runs, 'is permitted to join any secret society or military company.'"] to the present,[ "No secret society is allowed at Oberlin, and no other societies or self-perpetuating organizations are allowed among students, except by permission of the faculty. This is to be understood to include social and rooming-house clubs."] and at Princeton University since the beginning of the 20th century.
Confraternities in Nigeria are secret-society-like student groups within higher education, some of which have histories of violence and organized crime. The exact death toll from confraternity activities is unclear. One estimate in 2002 was that 250 people had been killed in campus cult-related murders in the previous decade,[ "NIGERIA: Focus on the menace of student cults" , IRIN, 1 August 2002] while the Exam Ethics Project lobby group estimated that 115 students and teachers had been killed between 1993 and 2003.[ "Cults of violence" , The Economist, 31 July 2008]
The Mandatory Monday Association is thought to operate out of a variety of universities including the Australian Defence Force Academy. The Association has numerous chapters that meet only on Mondays to discuss business and carry out rituals.
The only secret society abolished and then legalized is that of The Philomaths,[Arthur Morius Francis. Secret Societies. Vol. 3: The Collegiate Secret Societies of America. 2015 (file pdf).] which is now a legitimate academic association founded on a strict selection of its members.
Internet
While their existence had been speculated for years,
Internet-based secret societies first became known to the public in 2012 when Cicada 3301 began recruiting from the public via Internet-based puzzles.
The goals of the society remain unknown, but it is believed to be involved in
cryptography.
Around the world
The following contemporary and historic secret societies formed in Africa, by country:
Africa
Cameroon
Ghana
The Gambia
Guinea
Ivory Coast
Liberia
Mali
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Asia
China
Secret societies played a major role in Chinese affairs for centuries. They were a key aspect of the Anti-Qing sentiments of the 20th century. After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, they were tacitly supported by and actively collaborated with the Nationalist government. Having played prominent roles in history, they were targeted by the anti-secret society campaigns of the newly established government of the
China during the 1950s.
Examples of Chinese secret societies include:
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Boxer movement
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Hai San Secret Society
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Red Lanterns
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Red Spear Society
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Tiandihui, Society of the Heaven and the Earth
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Yellow Sand Society
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White Lotus
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Heavenly Kingdom of Everlasting Satisfaction
India
Secret societies in
India include:
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Paramahansa Mandali
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Abhinav Bharti
Japan
Secret societies in
Japan include:
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Black Dragon Society
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Double Leaf Society
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Gen'yōsha
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Green Dragon
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Sakurakai
Malaysia
Secret societies in
Malaysia include:
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Ang Soon Tong
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Ghee Hin Kongsi
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Wah Kee
Philippines
Secret societies in the
Philippines include:
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La Liga Filipina
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Katipunan
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Order of Free Gardeners
Singapore
Australia
Secret societies in Australia include:
Europe
Several secret societies existing across Europe, including:
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Ancient Order of Freesmiths ( Freischmiede)
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Freemasonry
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Order of Free Gardeners
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Templars of Honor and Temperance
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Rosicrucianism
Other organizations are listed by country.
Albania
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Black Society for Salvation
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Secret Committee for the Liberation of Albania
Bulgaria
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Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee
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Bulgarian Secret Revolutionary Brotherhood
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Macedonian Youth Secret Revolutionary Organization
Finland
France
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Association of the Polish Youth "Zet"
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Bourbaki group
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La Cagoule
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Carbonari
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Compagnons du Devoir
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Company of the Blessed Sacrament
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Ellinoglosso Xenodocheio
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Hiéron du Val d'Or
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Order of Free Gardeners
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Order of the Solar Temple
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Priory of Sion
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Society of the Rights of Man
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Poland
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Association of the Polish Youth "Zet"
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Ordo Templi Orientis
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Zarzewie
Portugal
Russia
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Association of the Polish Youth "Zet"
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Lyubomudry
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Ordo Templi Orientis
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Petrashevsky Circle
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Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Circle
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Southern Society of the Decembrists
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Union of Prosperity
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Union of Salvation
Serbia
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Black Hand
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Main Board for Serb Liberation
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Ordo Templi Orientis
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Serbian secret organization in eastern Bosnia
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White Hand
Spain
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The Disinherited
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Freemasonry
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Mano Negra (Black Hand)
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Order of Free Gardeners
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Ordo Templi Orientis
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Society of the Exterminating Angel
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Spanish Military Union
United Kingdom
North America
Canada
Secret societies in Canada that are non-collegiate include:
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Freemasonry
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Hunters' Lodges
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Independent Order of Odd Fellows
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Ku Klux Klan
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Order of Free Gardeners
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Order of the Solar Temple
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Ordo Templi Orientis
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P.E.O. Sisterhood
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Tong
Cuba
United States
Secret societies in the United States that are non-collegiate include:
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Abakuá
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American Protestant Association
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Brotherhood of American Yeomen
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Freemasonry
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Hunters' Lodges
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Knights of Columbus
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Knights of the Golden Circle
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Knights of Liberty
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Knights of Reciprocity
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Ku Klux Klan
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Molly Maguires
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Odd Fellows
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Order of Free Gardeners
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Order of the Star Spangled Banner
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QAnon
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The Order of the Third Bird
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Tong
Mexico
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Feminine Brigades of St. Joan of Arc
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El Yunque (organization)
South America
Brazil
Opposition
The
Catholic Church strongly opposed secret societies, especially
Freemasonry. It did relent somewhat in the United States and allowed membership in labour unions and the Knights of Columbus, but not the Masons.
[Christopher J. Kauffman, Faith and Fraternalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus, 1882–1982 (1982) p. 8.][Simon Sarlin and Dan Rouyer, "The Anti-Masonic Congress of Trento (1896): International Mobilization and the Circulation of Practices against Freemasonry." Contemporanea: Rivista di Storia dell'800 e del '900 (July-Sep 2021, 24#3, pp. 517-536.] Some Christian denominations continue to forbid their members from joining secret societies in the 21st century, such as the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and Seventh-day Adventists.
[Ellen G. White, "Selected Messages Book 2", Chapter 13. (1958)]
See also
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Collegiate secret societies in North America
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Cult
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High school secret societies
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Magical organization
Further reading
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Dickie, John. The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World (PublicAffairs, 2020). excerpt; scholarly history.
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Dumenil, Lynn. Freemasonry and American Culture: 1880-1930 (Princeton UP, 1984), major scholarly survey. excerpt
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Gist, Noel P. Secret Societies: A Cultural Study of Fraternalism in the United States (1941)
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Harwood, W. S. (May 1897). "Secret Societies in America." The North American Review, vol. 164, no. 486. .
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Klimczuk, Stephen, and Gerald Warner (2009). . New York: Sterling Publishing Company.
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Ownby, David, and Mary F. Somers Heidhues, eds. Secret Societies Reconsidered: Perspectives on the Social History of Early Modern South China and Southeast Asia (Routledge, 2016) excerpt
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Simmel, Georg. "The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies" The American Journal of Sociology (1906) 11#4 pp. 441–498 a famous classic by Georg Simmel, online
External links
