Secret Societies

Secret societies are a particular form of social group found throughout all of recorded history and across many societies. There are many different kinds of secret societies, including fraternal ones whose membership is based on community service, religious beliefs and practices, fraternity, political ideology, economic ties, and political power. Plains Indian military societies, the Muslim Brotherhood, Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Elks, Moose, Chinese triads, the mafia, Odd Fellows, Shriners, and even Robin Hood's Band of Merry Men are all secret societies. What they have in common is that they all have secret knowledge that they keep from nonmembers. As organizations, they provide members with mutual aid and charity. They may also pursue a political agenda, provide assistance to non-members, help maintain law and order, and help settle internal disputes.

Secret societies generally use religious, philosophical, or spiritual sanctions to provide a certain mystery to their members that aids in the performance of their duties. The mystery gives a sense of responsibility to members. They also feel they have a purpose to fulfill, which fosters a sense of superiority.

From the viewpoint of community, secret societies in what were called traditional or nonmodern societies are of special interest. In West Africa, for example, where secret societies have played a major role in tribal societies, it is commonly known who belongs to what men's or women's societies, but despite the fact that membership is known, certain religious or ritual knowledge is kept secret from nonmembers. Similarly, the secret rituals of the Masons (a secret society originating in medieval Europe among stonemasons and today the largest worldwide secret society) are still kept from outsiders, although the general membership of the Masons is known. Members feel that they have undergone the type of initiation that makes them worthy to have the powerful secret.

The fact that a secret is known only to members, and, perhaps, only to members of a certain rank adds to a secret society's mystery. Moreover, membership is limited to people of a given category, which may be defined by age, gender, ethnicity, or something else. Secret societies use that mystery to increase their ability to function as adjuncts to political systems. In West Africa, for example, secret societies offer political help in social control since these societies are often unable to police everyday life.

Other secret societies that aid political systems include the Muslim Brotherhoods in Muslim countries and the Poro and Sande societies in Liberia. Anthropologists who have studied the Poro (men's) and Sande (women's) secret societies have concluded that they are major forces aiding government and facilitating social change. These societies, like the Cheyenne military societies, will physically punish those who do not adhere to the rules. There is great fear of incurring the [Page 1214]wrath of the societies. Their job is to reenact ritually the myths of the society in masquerades.

The Sande have also been criticized, however, for their perpetuation of female genital mutilation (cliterodectomy). In Liberia, the Kpelle tribe open a Sande bush school (which functions as an initiation ceremony) every three or four years. Women of the Sande society are in complete control of the ceremony and school. Members of the initiation class are all girls between nine and fifteen years of age. They learn all they need to know to be Kpelle women from Sande members during the school session, which lasts from six weeks to three months.

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