{"id":60,"date":"2022-04-17T22:02:39","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T02:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/?page_id=60"},"modified":"2022-04-29T13:11:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T17:11:13","slug":"what-is-a-secret-society","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/what-is-a-secret-society\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Secret Society?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is difficult to nail down a definition exactly of what a secret society is because as Arkon Daraul states, secret societies vary so much that there cannot be a set of qualifications that will apply equally to all societies.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> As he points out, some secret societies are not even completely secret.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> Mackenzie Crane articulates that collegiate secret societies are \u201cintentional, persistent,\u201d and exclusive groups who keep the details of their membership and the group known only to other members. She adds, \u201cthese groups are characterized by a profound confidence among members that secret proceedings will be fiercely guarded from those outside the group.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Secrecy is important to college students, as shown in Jennifer Domagal\u2019s \u201cKeeping Secrets: Student Secret Societies in Historical Context.\u201d She cites Stanton K. Tefft that secrecy gives students \u201ccontrol and autonomy over their surroundings and are able to create such groups even in light of direct opposition.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> But, Crane also points out that different collegiate secret societies maintain different levels of secrecy ranging from those who hold events on campus and wear special clothing or accessories to mark themselves as members, swearing pledges to silence until they have become full members, and those \u201cthat attempt to conceal their existence entirely.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Footnotes<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Daraul, A. (1961). Secret societies yesterday and today. London: The Octagon Press Ltd.9 in Jennifer Domagal, \u201cKeeping Secrets: Student Secret Societies in Historical Context,\u201d <em>The Vermont Connection<\/em> 23, no. 1 (2002): 1, https:\/\/scholarworks.uvm.edu\/tvc\/vol23\/iss1\/6\/?utm_source=scholarworks.uvm.edu%2Ftvc%2Fvol23%2Fiss1%2F6&amp;utm_medium=PDF&amp;utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Daraul, A. (1961). Secret societies yesterday and today. London: The Octagon Press Ltd.9 in Jennifer Domagal, \u201cKeeping Secrets: Student Secret Societies in Historical Context,\u201d <em>The Vermont Connection<\/em> 23, no. 1 (2002): 1, https:\/\/scholarworks.uvm.edu\/tvc\/vol23\/iss1\/6\/?utm_source=scholarworks.uvm.edu%2Ftvc%2Fvol23%2Fiss1%2F6&amp;utm_medium=PDF&amp;utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Mackenzie Crane, \u201cThe Tap: An Examination of the Controversy of Secret Societies on College Campuses\u201d (M.Ed., United States &#8212; South Carolina, University of South Carolina), 1, accessed February 23, 2022, https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/docview\/1686533113\/abstract\/D4670441DD84592PQ\/1.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Tefft, S.K. (1980). Secrecy, a cross-cultural perspective. New York: Human Sciences Press, Inc (321) in Jennifer Domagal, \u201cKeeping Secrets: Student Secret Societies in Historical Context,\u201d <em>The Vermont Connection<\/em> 23, no. 1 (2002): https:\/\/scholarworks.uvm.edu\/tvc\/vol23\/iss1\/6\/?utm_source=scholarworks.uvm.edu%2Ftvc%2Fvol23%2Fiss1%2F6&amp;utm_medium=PDF&amp;utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Crane, \u201cThe Tap,&#8221; 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is difficult to nail down a definition exactly of what a secret society is because as Arkon Daraul states, secret societies vary so much that there cannot be a set of qualifications that will apply equally to all societies.[1] As he points out, some secret societies are not even completely secret.[2] Mackenzie Crane articulates &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/what-is-a-secret-society\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What is a Secret Society?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1845,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-60","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60\/revisions\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/notsosecret\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}