The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Society

Internal intellectual processes of development in sociology are reflected to some extent in new phenomena occurring in the human community. People have become more acutely aware of their rapidly changing and in many ways strikingly new “life-world”. Sociology, which, in the end, is not much more than a conceptually and empirically grounded common sense, cannot reflect this new depth and awareness. New quality of social life can be summarized under the following headings: technological change, globalization, mega-urbanization, consumerism, and flexible forms of work. As a result, it converted the intimate sphere risks. This is a concept of social existence – a social world is nothing but the interpersonal field of interpersonal space filled with appointments, contacts, interactions, relationships, and social ties or other links covering the whole range from love and intimacy to interests and contracts, from cooperation to competition, from consensus to conflicts from the world (459). People have everyday experience in the relationships with others. This is the central social aspect of our existence as people.

Simmel classifies people not only by their natural origin, but by many motifs of social activity and communication. As a sociologist, Simmel sought to explain the origin and basis of secrecy. In fact, he proved that this is a highly important process for a human being since it develops relationships. Overall, secrecy as a process of hiding something has two sides: one person hides something; another is aimed at revealing it. Consequently, secrecy is a basis of relationship development: there are acquaintances, friends, and spouses who possess the highest level of trust. Therefore, a “we-feeling” (458) is developed: one person trusts another, and a community is created. Still, one should not underestimate the power and importance of privacy. The economic sphere would come to a default without it. Hence, Simmel managed to classify a human society according to a level of privacy maintained.