thumb|300px|"Secret Society Buildings at [[Yale University|Yale College" by Alice Donlevy . Pictured are: Psi Upsilon (Beta chapter), 120 High Street. Left center: Skull and Bones (Russell Trust Association), 64 High Street. Right center: Delta Kappa Epsilon (Phi chapter), east side of York Street, south of Elm Street. Bottom: Scroll and Key (Kingsley Trust SSS Nonse Association), 490 College Street.]]

A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, membership, and sometimes also existence, are concealed. 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.

upright=1.4|thumb|The [[Brethren of Purity were a secret society

Alan Axelrod, author of the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders, defines a secret society as an organization that:

  • is exclusive
  • claims to own special secrets
  • shows a strong inclination to favor its members.

Historian Richard B. Spence of the University of Idaho offered a similar three-pronged definition:

  • 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.
  • The group promises superior status or knowledge to members.
  • 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 influential 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 (the Mafia), religious groups (Order of Assassins and Thelema) and political movements (Bolsheviks and Black Dragon Society).

Historian Jasper Ridley says that Freemasonry is "the world's most powerful secret Society".

The organization "Opus Dei" (Latin for "Work of God") is portrayed as a "secret society" of the Catholic Church. Critics such as the Jesuit Wladimir Ledóchowski sometimes refer to Opus Dei as a Catholic (or Christian or "white") form of Freemasonry. Other critics label Opus Dei as "Holy Mafia" or "Santa Mafia"

The National Christian Association (1868–1983) is an example of an organization opposed to secret societies.

Realms

Politics

Because some secret societies have political 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 anonymously and circumspectly, since the 19th century.

British universities have a long history of secret societies or quasi-secret clubs, such as the Pitt Club at Cambridge University, the Kate Kennedy Club, The Kensington Club and the Praetorian Club at the University of St Andrews, and the 16' Club at St David's College. 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, and secret societies have been banned at Oberlin College from 1847 to the present, 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, while the Exam Ethics Project lobby group estimated that 115 students and teachers had been killed between 1993 and 2003.

The Mandatory Monday Association is thought to operate out of a variety of Australian 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, 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

Africa

The following contemporary and historic secret societies formed in Africa, by country:

Cameroon

  • Ekpe

Ghana

  • Simo

The Gambia

  • Ojeh Society

Guinea

  • Poro
  • Sande society

Ivory Coast

  • Poro
  • Sande society

Liberia

  • Crocodile Society
  • Poro
  • Sande society

Mali

  • Simo

Nigeria

  • Ekpe
  • Nze na Ozo
  • Ogboni
  • Confraternities in Nigeria

Sierra Leone

  • Crocodile Society
  • Leopard Society
  • Ojeh Society
  • Poro
  • Sande society
  • Simo

South Africa

  • Afrikaner Broederbond
  • Afrikanerbond

Zimbabwe

  • Nyau

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 People's Republic of China during the 1950s. Examples of Chinese secret societies include:

  • Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists
  • Hai San Secret Society
  • Red Lanterns
  • Red Spear Society
  • Tiandihui, Society of the Heaven and the Earth
  • Yellow Sand Society
  • White Lotus
  • Heavenly Kingdom of Everlasting Satisfaction

India

include:

  • Paramahansa Mandali
  • Abhinav Bharti

Japan

Secret societies in Japan include:

  • Black Dragon Society
  • Double Leaf Society
  • Gen'yōsha
  • Green Dragon
  • Sakurakai

Malaysia

Secret societies in Malaysia include:

  • Ang Soon Tong
  • Ghee Hin Kongsi
  • Wah Kee

Philippines

Secret societies in the Philippines include:

  • La Liga Filipina
  • Katipunan
  • Order of Free Gardeners

Singapore

  • Ang Soon Tong
  • Ghee Hin Kongsi
  • Salakau
  • Wah Kee
  • Freemasonry

Australia

Australia

Secret societies in Australia include:

  • Freemasonry
  • Odd Fellows
  • Ku Klux Klan

Opposition

The Catholic Church strongly opposed secret societies, especially the Freemasons. It did relent somewhat in the United States and allowed membership in labour unions and the Knights of Columbus, but not the Masons. Some Christian denominations continue to forbid their members from joining secret societies in the 21st century, such as the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, Seventh-day Adventists, and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

See also

  • Cult
  • Shadow government
  • Collegiate secret societies in North America
  • High school secret societies
  • Magical organization

References

Further reading

  • Dickie, John. The Craft: How the Freemasons Made the Modern World (PublicAffairs, 2020). excerpt; scholarly history.
  • Dumenil, Lynn. Freemasonry and American Culture: 1880-1930 (Princeton UP, 1984), major scholarly survey. excerpt
  • Gist, Noel P. Secret Societies: A Cultural Study of Fraternalism in the United States (1941)
  • Harwood, W. S. (May 1897). "Secret Societies in America." The North American Review, vol. 164, no. 486. .
  • Klimczuk, Stephen, and Gerald Warner (2009). Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries: Uncovering Mysterious Sights, Symbols, and Societies. New York: Sterling Publishing Company.
  • 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
  • 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
  • Secret Societies: a very short history – Documents of Freemasons, Jesuits, Illuminati, Carbonari, Burschenschaften and other organizations
  • Stevens, The cyclopædia of fraternities (2nd ed.). A dated review of the subject.