A fraternity (Latin Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. With the Roman conquest, Latin was spread to countries around the Mediterranean, including a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Aragonese, Corsican, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Sardinian, Spanish and others, are descended from Latin, while frater : "brother") is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization.

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History

There are known fraternal organizations which existed as far back as ancient Greece and Rome The Mithraic Mysteries or Mysteries of Mithras was a mystery religion centered on the god Mithras, became popular among the military in the Roman Empire, from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. Information on the cult is based mainly on interpretations of the many surviving monuments. The most characteristic of these are depictions of Mithras as being, and analogous institutions in the late medieval period called confraternities A confraternity is normally a Roman Catholic or Orthodox organization of lay people created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy. An archconfraternity is a "franchise" of confraternities, able to establish different groups using the same names and rules, such as, which were lay organizations allied to the Catholic Church. These confraternities evolved into purely secular fraternal societies such as Freemasonry Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 in Scotland and Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the Jurisdiction of the United, which in turn was used as a model for many modern fraternal orders and societies.[1]

The development of modern fraternal orders was especially dynamic in the United States, where the freedom to associate outside governmental regulation is expressly sanctioned in law.[2] There have been hundreds of fraternal organizations in the United States, and at the beginning of the 20th century the number of memberships equaled the number of adult males. (Due to multiple memberships, probably only 50% of adult males belonged to any organizations.)[3]

In 1944 Arthur M. Schlesinger Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Sr. was an American historian. His son, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. was also a noted historian coined the phrase "a nation of joiners" to refer to the phenomenon.[4] Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes: 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in also referred to the American reliance on private organization in the 1830s in Democracy in America De la démocratie en Amérique is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville on the democratic institution of the United States in the 1830s and its strengths and weaknesses. A literal translation of its title is Of Democracy in America, but the usual translation of the title is simply Democracy in America. It is regarded as a classic account.

There are many attributes that fraternities may or may not have, depending on their structure and purpose. Fraternities can have differing degrees of secrecy, some form of initiation or ceremony marking admission, formal codes of behavior, disciplinary procedures, very differing amounts of real property and assets.[3]

Types of fraternities

The only true distinction between a fraternity and any other form of social organization is the implication that the members freely associate as equals for a mutually beneficial purpose, rather than because of a religious, governmental, commercial, or familial bond, although there are fraternities dedicated to each of these topics.[3] On most college campuses fraternities are divided into three groups such as social, professional and honorary.

Fraternities can be organized for many purposes, including university education, work skills, ethics, ethnicity, religion, politics, charity, chivalry, other standards of personal conduct, asceticism, service, performing arts, family command of territory, and even crime. There is almost always an explicit goal of mutual support, and while there have been fraternal orders for the well-off there have also been many fraternities for those in the lower ranks of society, especially for national or religious minorities. Trade unions also grew out of fraternities such as the Knights of Labor The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, best known simply as the Knights of Labor , was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 19th Century. It was established in 1869 and reached a peak membership of nearly three-quarters of a million members by the middle of the 1880s, before beginning a period of.

The ability to organize freely, apart from the institutions of government and religion, was a fundamental part of the establishment of the modern world. In Living the Enlightenment, Margaret C. Jacobs showed the development of Jurgen Habermas' 'public space' in 17th century Netherlands was closely related to the establishment of lodges of Freemasons.[5]

College and university fraternities

Main article: Fraternities and sororities Fraternities and Sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In English, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in North America, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations. Similar, but less common, organizations also exist for secondary

Fraternities have a long history in colleges and universities, and form a major subsection of the whole range of fraternities.[6] In Europe, students are organized in nations A nation are regional corporations of students at university, once widespread across central and northern Europe in medieval times, they are now largely restricted to the two ancient universities of Sweden. The students, who were all born within the same region, usually spoke the same language, and expected to be ruled by their own familiar law and corporations Generally, universities in the various European countries have student organizations called corporations. The name is derived from the Latin corporatio meaning a body or group. There was an earlier type of student organization, called a nation from the Middle Ages, where students from all over Europe at a particular university would unite since the beginnings of the modern university in the late medieval period, but the situation can differ greatly by country.

In the United States, fraternities in colleges date to the 1770s, but did not fully assume an established pattern until the 1840s. They were strongly influenced by the patterns set by Freemasonry.[3] The main difference between the older European organizations and the American organizations is that the American student societies virtually always include initiations, the formal use of symbolism, and the lodge-based organizational structure (chapters) derived from usages in Freemasonry.[3]

Trade Guilds

The development of Fraternities can be traced from trade unions or guilds that emerged in England. These guilds were set up to protect and care for their members at a time when there was no welfare state, trade unions or National Health Service. Various secret signs and handshakes were created to serve as proof of their membership allowing them to visit guilds in distant places that are associated with the guild they belong.

Over the next 300 years or so, the idea of "ordinary" people joining together to improve their situation met with varying degrees of opposition (and persecution) from "People in Power", depending on whether they were seen as a source of revenue (taxes) or a threat to their power. For example, when Henry VIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church, the Guilds were seen by him as supporters of the Pope, and in 1545 all material property of the Guilds was confiscated. Elizabeth I took away from the Guilds the responsibility for apprenticeships, and by the end of her reign, most Guilds had been suppressed.

The suppression of these Trade Guilds removed an important form of social and financial support from ordinary men and women. In major cities (like London), some Guilds (like the Freemasons) survived by adapting their roles to a social support function. Eventually, these groups evolved in the early 1700s into more philosophical organizations focused on brotherly love and ethical living. Among guilds that became prosperous are the Freemasons Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 in Scotland and Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the Jurisdiction of the United and the Odd Fellows Odd Fellows is a name broadly referring to any of a large number of friendly societies, fraternal and service organizations and/or Lodges.

In many instances fraternities are limited to male membership such as the Dutch 'Alpinisten Vereniging Gelderland Midden' but this is not always the case, and there are mixed male and female, and even wholly female, fraternities. For example, for general fraternities: the Grande Loge Mixte de France The Mixed Grand Lodge of France is a Masonic lodge in France, made up of men and women. It formed in 1982, with the support of the Grand Orient de France, by splitting from the Universal Mixed Grand Lodge, the Honorable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 in Scotland and Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the Jurisdiction of the United, the Grande Loge Féminine de France The Women's Grand Lodge Of France is the Grand Lodge of France's women-only Masonic lodges, the various Orders of Odd Fellows Odd Fellows is a name broadly referring to any of a large number of friendly societies, fraternal and service organizations and/or Lodges, Orange Order The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded during 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland. Politically, it is strongly linked to unionism. Its name is a tribute to and Daughters of Rebekah and the Order of the Eastern Star The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world that both men and women can join. It was established in 1850 by Rob Morris, a lawyer and educator from Boston, Massachusetts, who had been an official with the Freemasons. It is based on teachings from the Bible, but is open to people of all monotheistic faiths. It.

References

  1. ^ Jasper Ridley, The Freemasons, Arcade Pubishing, New York, 2001
  2. ^ NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 , was an important civil rights case brought before the United States Supreme Court, 357 U.S. 449, 460 (1958)
  3. ^ a b c d e Stevens, Albert C. (1907). Cyclopedia of Fraternities: A Compilation of Existing Authentic Information and the Results of Original Investigation as to the Origin, Derivation, Founders, Development, Aims, Emblems, Character, and Personnel of More Than Six Hundred Secret Societies in the United States. E. B. Treat and Company.
  4. ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. (October 1944). "Biography of a Nation of Joiners". American Historical Review (Washington, D.C.: American Historical Association) L (1): 1.
  5. ^ Jacob, Margaret C. (1991). Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24345304.
  6. ^ Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities

Categories: Fraternal and service organizations Categories: Organizations by activity | Welfare and service organizations | Clubs and societies

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