Fraternal Associations, Fraternal
Orders and Freemasonry
by M.W. Frater
Dr. Claude Brodeur IXo, SRIC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
1.1
A
Millennium of Change
1.2 Scientific and Technological
Changes
1.3 Social, Cultural and
Political Change
1.4 Perspectives for
Discussion
2. Fraternalism
2.1
Definition
of Fraternalism
2.2 Secret Orders and Benefit
Societies
2.3
Secret Societies
and Secrecy
2.4 Ritual
3.
Motivation
3.1
Theories of
Human Motivation
3.2 Instinct
Theories
3.3 The Needs
Theory
3.4 The Environmental
Theory
3.5 The Cognitive
Theory
3.6 The Functional Autonomy
Theory
4. Trends in Fraternal
Associations
4.1 Fraternal Societies in Early
America
4.2 Patterns of Growth and
Decline
5. Future Prospects
5.1
Reasons for the Decline and Its Implications
5.2
The Ideal of
Community
5.3 Restructuring For The
Twenty-first Century
6. Suggested Readings and References
1. Introduction
1.1 A
Millennium of Change
We are now living
in a time-warp, the transition from the 2nd to the 3rd Millennium. The
2nd Millennium has been a millennium of profound and incredible change.
The earth's population has increased from 263 million to more than five
and a half billion, projected to soon become 8.7 billion. In the last
thousand years, many lands were discovered and settled by Europeans;
North American Nations were constituted; and waves of Asian and African
settlers joined Europeans in immigrating to many continents. During the
same period the great Cathedrals of Europe were built and rebuilt;
present-day Western-type Universities were founded in Europe and thence
spread throughout the world; and great European empires were created and
destroyed. There are now enormously large incorporated cities spread
throughout the world, more than 50 megalopolises in all.
1.2 Scientific and Technological
Changes
Scientific and technological
knowledge has expanded incredibly. We have many new disciplines, new
scientific and technological discoveries and new inventions, all of
which would have been considered unthinkable centuries ago. Disciplines
like chemistry, atomic physics, algebra, trigonometry, neurology,
neuroanatomy, psychiatry, and psychology, to name a few. Scientific
discoveries like subatomic particles, brain waves, electromagnetism,
radiation therapy, and nuclear energy. Inventions like the steamship,
the automobile, the airplane, the radio, television, the jet engine, the
computer, and others too numerous to mention.
Some men and women still alive in the early 1990s,
and I knew one, had gone from living in the horse and buggy age to
living in an age of jet propulsion, to an age in which man had set foot
on the moon. They had seen intercontinental air travel at speeds defying
imagination; they had seen the launching of vehicles destined for
interplanetary exploration. Very likely intergalactic travel will be
achieved in the next millennium. Intergalactic space travel may become
not only an imminent possibility but also an imminent
necessity.
1.3 Social, Cultural and
Political Change
Many changes have
taken place in the social order as well. For one, there have been
massive population moves from towns and villages to huge cities
inhabited by millions of people, some cities and states equaling in
population the size of a small country. The population of the state of
California, for example, is greater than the population of all Canada.
There have been amazing transformations in musical, literary,
architectural, and artistic forms, in building materials, as well as
changes in political and economic structures, and also in the way we
wage wars.
An astonishing variety of fraternal and social
organizations, including scientific, professional and self-help
associations, have been formed to cope with the increasing diversity of
human needs and interests. Associations like the Royal Society of
England and the Royal Society of Canada, the National Science Foundation
of the United States, and the Russian Academy of Science and Technology.
Merz estimated that in 1927 in the United States alone there were more
than 800 different fraternal associations, not counting professional,
social and self-help organizations. By 1927, nearly half the population
of 60 million held membership in some fraternal group. The awesome
population explosion of recent years is putting enormous pressure on our
social, political, economic, and cultural institutions.
Planetary resources are diminishing and being
threatened by increasing pollution. The leading Nations of the planet
have established a United Nations organization to cope with these
pressures and threats. The globe's leaders are now asking what are the
limits to the pollution that the planet can tolerate and the numbers
that it can feed. Can the planet tolerate another world war? The threat
now is not to millions of lives. The danger is now the very destruction
of the planet itself. Political institutions have undergone and may yet
have to undergo radical change. The choices so far have ranged from
theocentric governments to parliamentary democracies to republics to
bureaucratic feudalism. What next?
Landmark changes have occurred in civil rights for
women and children. We have become more humanitarian. Women, for the
first time in the history of the western world, have been elected heads
of nations. What a change! The earliest year in which women were allowed
to vote in the U.S. was 1917; in Britain, 1918, and only if 30 years of
age; in Germany, 1919, if over 20 years old. In 1909 the first women
were admitted to German Universities; in 1913 the first woman magistrate
was appointed in England; in 1917 the first woman was elected to the
House of Representatives in the United States Congress. The issue of
women's place in society and women's rights is still being debated in
state assemblies and in religious institutions. For the first time in
history, peoples of the twentieth century enacted child labor laws and
labor unions were organized to protect the working class.
1.4 Perspectives for
Discussion
I have made the above
observations to put our discussion of the fraternal movement in an
historical and cultural perspective. It is against the background of
this relatively recent and extraordinary surge of social, political,
technological, cultural and intellectual change that we must temper our
judgement of the past performance of fraternal societies and their
future prospects.
My purpose in presenting this paper is not to
enter into an exhaustive study of the nature and history of fraternal
orders or Freemasonry, or to debate their relative merits. Rather, my
purpose is to question what inner drives, what environmental pressures
and what historic events have made it desirable for men to form
fraternal associations in the past. Will fraternal orders have to change
if they are to continue to satisfy our inner drives and to survive the
pressures on them to adapt themselves to the present unprecedented
historic events shaping the future of the human race?
What psychological, social and cultural purposes
are now being served by the existence of fraternal orders? Are these
purposes unvarying or must they too evolve? Do fraternal associations
simply help us to perfect our nature? Or do they serve as well the
economic, social and political interests generated by special interest
groups? Are they a response to a survival instinct or are they as well a
response to a vision of a richer life? Let's consider another more
important question: are the personal aspirations and the socio-political
events that have led to the establishment of Freemasonry, and other
similar orders, sufficient to keep fraternities alive and prosperous? Or
will changing times and unforeseeable events likely lead to the decline
and demise of most fraternal associations?
In the first part of my paper I shall describe
fraternities in general. Then I shall describe some theories about human
motivation as they may relate to fraternalism. Next I shall briefly
report some research about trends in North America affecting membership
in fraternal orders like Freemasonry. Finally, I shall say something
about what the future may augur for fraternities as we now know
them.
What are the future prospects of order like
Freemasonry? Is it an elitist organization struggling for survival in a
society, in a world, which is increasingly egalitarian, democratic and
republican in character? Is it likely to become an anachronism in
tomorrow's world, if it is not one already?
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2. Fraternalism
2.1 Definition
of Fraternalism
I will use the word
fraternalism rather than phrases like fraternal orders or fraternities
or fraternal societies, when referring to the phenomenon of fraternal
associations. It is more general and inclusive. One encyclopedia defines
a fraternal order as "an organization whose members are usually bound by
oath and which makes extensive use of secret ritual in the conduct of
their meetings." They are usually gender exclusive (men or women, but
not both), but not necessarily.
A fraternity, then, is a group of people, which
may or may not be exclusively male or female in membership, voluntarily
bound together by oath and making extensive use of secret ritual.
Freemasonry and the Odd Fellows are among the best-known fraternal
orders, both originating in 18th-century England. Most American
fraternal orders were established in the 19th century. They were formed
for the special purpose of, or for the benefit of, particular groups,
such as the Patrons of Husbandry. The Grange, for instance, was founded
to improve the lot of the farmer and, for a time, the order was an
important political force. The Roman Catholics had The Knights of
Columbus which was free from the oath-taking requirement, which they
opposed. Other orders were founded when insurance companies did not
insure working men, thus making available to the working classes
insurance policies with sickness and death benefits.
In the 18th century, fraternities, usually with
Greek-letter names, were established among American college students for
social purposes. Members were initiated by invitation. The oldest
Greek-letter fraternity, Phi Delta Beta, was founded in 1776 at the
college of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After 1830, the
Greek-letter fraternities began to be supplanted by literary societies,
and later, after 1870, many professional and honorary fraternities were
established to give recognition to scholarship in various
fields.
Phi Delta Kappa is a prominent and politically
powerful Greek-letter fraternity for educators. It is a strong political
lobby in both the United States and Canada. Many Freemasons here in
Canada and the United States belong to it. Membership in it is by
invitation and involves a ceremony of initiation and the taking of an
oath. Prior to the 1980s, membership was restricted to men only. This is
no longer the case. Membership in Phi Delta Kappa in the Toronto
Chapter, the one with which I am familiar, as in the case of the
Freemasonry in Ontario, has been declining in recent years.
2.2 Secret Orders and Benefit
Societies
Schmidt, in his book on
Fraternal Organizations, distinguishes between secret orders and benefit
societies. Among the secret societies, Schmidt lists Freemasonry, the
Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Shrine, and the
Eastern Star. Among the benefit societies are the Order of Foresters,
the Knights of Columbus, the Independent Order of Foresters and the
Royal Arcanum. The key characteristics in Schmidt's definition of a
fraternal organization are ritual and secrecy. The ritual is to
inculcate moral values in the membership. Another feature of
fraternalism, is the "lodge" system, a "lodge" being a local
unit.
Schmidt estimates that 2000 fraternal societies
have made their appearance in North America since the mid-1800s. Since
most secret societies have left few or no historical records, any figure
would be an estimate only. Alexis de Tocqueville, in his two-volume
study of Democracy in America, noted a North American propensity to form
associations for commercial and industrial purposes and for moral and
religious purposes.
The difference between a secret society and a
benefit society is not always clear. Each may have features of the
other, so it is not always clear whether a fraternal order is a secret
society or a benefit society. In a secret society, defined in its narrow
sense, the role and function of ritual is paramount. The ritual is not
only secret but also the principal mode of communicating moral values.
Benefit societies place less emphasis on ritual. In fact, over the years
many have dispensed with rituals and secrets. Whether a society without
ritual can be called a fraternal order is a matter of legal definition
regulated by state laws of incorporation. Some orders without ritual
initiation as part of their constitution have state charters describing
them as a fraternal organization.
The need for benefit societies emerged in the late
1800s because of the lack of social security or social welfare programs
to guarantee working men and their families' financial security. No old
age pension plans or unemployment insurance benefits or insurance
provisions in the event of a death in the family were available to the
laboring classes. The benefit societies, then, were organized for the
specific purpose of establishing life and sickness insurance for the
working classes.
Most benefit societies were nonpolitical, but not
all. The Grange, for instance, expressly sought specific social changes
to benefit the farmer. Yet, it was also a fraternal order similar to
secret societies in character inasmuch as ritual, degree work and social
events were part of its program.
Other fraternal groups, without the insurance
feature, were formed mainly for the purpose of fellowship and to
inculcate in their members principles and tenets of virtue and morality.
As the social welfare state expands its housing, medical, unemployment,
educational programs for the working classes, there is now little need
for the benefit features of fraternal societies and hence little reason
for people to associate for that purpose.
2.3 Secret Societies
and Secrecy
Fraternal orders
practicing secrecy have been known to exist for thousands of years, as
far back as the Egyptian Mystery Schools in 1500 BC. Some scholars claim
that the orders of knighthood during the crusades also practiced
secrecy.
Freemasons do not claim to be members of a "secret
society". They claim that Freemasonry is a "society with secrets". A
truly secret society, of course, would be one whose existence is known
only to its members. Such a society would not keep public records either
of its membership or its activities, nor would it keep minutes of
meetings. Neither would it apply for a state charter of incorporation as
a publicly recognized nonprofit organization.
The secrecy feature of fraternal orders has
perhaps led people who are nonmembers to be suspicious of them. This is
probably a characteristic which works against them. Members of secret
societies also tend to take their oath of secrecy quite seriously. What
is usually secret is the ritual. In the case of Freemasonry, however,
while the members will not discuss the ritual or the signs of
recognition with nonmembers or the uninitiated, anyone who is really
determined can find publications that would tell as much as anyone might
want to know about the society. It's the signs of recognition that are
usually the most carefully guarded secret of all secret
societies.
Recent exposés of secret "criminal" fraternities
tend to make people even more suspicious of all secret societies and the
people who belong to them. Recently a cover story appeared in USA
Today about the Asian Triad Associations. According to the article,
the Asian Triad Associations, resembling the rise of the Mafia in the
West, were created for political purposes. Seventeenth-century rebel
groups united to overthrow the invading Ching Dynasty and to restore the
Ming Dynasty to power. They united under a "leader" or "general" who was
assigned to a region. In the early phases of the association, members
were bound by oaths of blood brotherhood.
Triad secret societies were once political
organizations protecting the members from hostile and corrupt forces.
Now their original purpose has been lost and they are treated by the
civil authority as criminal gangs who use the name and rituals of the
ancient Triad Society for their own evil purposes. These gangs are
involved in extortion, prostitution, illegal gambling, gun dealing,
alien smuggling, and drug trafficking.
Legitimate secret societies, which operate within
the law and are legally recognized by the civil magisterium, are
constituted of law abiding men who dedicate themselves to moral,
virtuous and upright living. If legitimate and praiseworthy secret
societies are to be respected and are subsequently to avoid suspicion
about their purposes, then they must be considerably more open and
visible to public scrutiny. As society becomes increasingly desirous of
openness (witness recent legislation giving citizens more open access to
public information, and witness also the past policy of glasnost in the
Communist block of nations), then fraternal orders known for their
practice of secrecy will have to become more sensitive to public demands
for information and openness.
2.4 Ritual
Also important to fraternal orders which bind members by
oaths of secrecy are their rituals and their various degrees. Some
fraternal orders see ritual as the essence of the order. The ritual is
designed to communicate to initiates "high principles, virtue,
brotherhood, morality and religious values." The idea of having degrees
is to communicate different specific truths with each degree.
It is often the feature of excessive secrecy which
has been criticized by members and nonmembers alike. Some orders, like
the Grange, have dropped their ritual. Members critical of the ritual
feature of their orders complain that the ritual is too long, too
antiquated. Some orders have modified their ritual; others have reduced
the number of degrees. Some have removed parts of the degrees that have
become offensive, anachronistic to the culture. Preference today seems
to be for rituals and ceremonies that are relatively brief. In fact,
there are those who are convinced that the use of lengthy, outdated
rituals probably accounts significantly for declining memberships and
the low attendance being experienced by many fraternal
orders.
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3. Motivation
3.1 Theories of
Human Motivation
What is there about
human beings that continues to make membership in fraternal orders
appealing? This is really a question about human motives. Why, indeed,
do people join fraternal orders?
For the sake argument only, let's propose that men
are by nature inclined to socialize, that their intelligence compels
them to live in community. Recent evidence tends to confirm that this is
so, and furthermore that the source of this tendency is the brain
itself.
3.2 Instinct
Theories
Is man born with the instinct
to be a joiner? Is it part of his inborn nature to be gregarious? Some
scientists point to the existence of three distinct brain systems, one
called the R-complex or reptilian brain which regulates the degree to
which we are gregarious or loners, pacific or violent. The degree to
which we respond to fads is also controlled by this part of our brain,
and most likely our sexual orientation. Another of the three brain
systems, the limbic brain, is responsible for autonomic functions like
digestion, breathing, sleep, and other similar functions, like the
immune system. Then, there is, of course, our capacity to think and to
reason, for which our cerebellum or cerebral brain is
responsible.
These three brain systems seem to be autonomous in
function, yet delicately interconnected and interdependent. They enable
us, to some extent, to control through cerebral brain mechanisms the
expression of our instincts and the operation of our autonomic
functions. At the same time our limbic and R-complex brains can
interfere with our ability to think and reason. Occasionally one or more
of the three brain systems malfunction. Then our behavior can become
unmanageable and self-destructive.
This evidence suggests that if we weren't
Freemasons, we would probably belong to some other group to satisfy our
gregarious instinct. The theory, on the other hand, does not explain why
anyone would choose one group in preference to another --Freemasonry as
opposed to the Ku Klux Klan. It only suggests that the desire to isolate
oneself from others is not characteristically human. It may be divine,
but definitely not human.
What is truly and characteristically human is not
that man is Homo erectus (an animal that walks upright) or Homo sapiens
(an animal that knows), but that he is essentially and consciously
gregarious, a social animal. It is this characteristic of human nature,
combined with a highly developed intelligence, that in the evolution of
the species has led men to establish towns, cities, city states,
nations, empires, and, of course, fraternal orders.
If the instinct theory, on the basis of the
evidence just described, is correct, then fraternalism would naturally
be very human indeed. The problem of declining membership numbers, then,
is not rooted in an aberrant human nature, but more likely can be
attributed to the fact that men have many means for satisfying their
gregarious instincts, especially in large urban centers. This theory
also suggests to me that men are inclined by nature to be
cooperative.
3.3 The Needs
Theory
Maslow's theory of human
motivation is based the idea that men are driven by certain needs and
that these needs are hierarchical. Among the hierarchy is mentioned the
need for survival (food, water, shelter). Another is the need for safety
(physical and psychological security); the need for belonging (love and
acceptance), as well as a need is for approval, recognition, and
self-esteem. When these needs are not satisfied, we are motivated to
find ways of satisfying them. When these needs are satisfied, on the
other hand, motivation decreases and we are not inclined to want
more.
However, Maslow's theory suggests there are other
needs, higher order needs, needs dealing with man's intellectual
achievement, aesthetic appreciation, and self-actualization. These needs
differ radically from lower-level needs. They are not so easily
satisfied. When these needs are met, motivation does not cease; instead,
it increases urging us on to seek greater fulfillment. Once successful
in our pursuit for knowledge and understanding, we are likely to strive
for even greater knowledge and understanding. The motivation to achieve
these higher-level needs can be endlessly renewed.
Maslow's theory has the advantage of getting us to
look at the whole person, his physical, emotional and intellectual needs
and to see them as interrelated. But it does not help us to predict what
needs will be important to us at any given moment in our lives. We may,
for example, deny ourselves safety or friendship to gain knowledge or to
engage in artistic pursuits or to fulfil our highest aspirations and
ambitions.
In applying this model of human motivation to
Lodge, consider, for example, if Lodge becomes for someone a fearful,
unpredictable place, and you don't know where you stand, the model says
you would likely go somewhere else where you feel more secure. Also,
lower-level needs for security and comfort could conflict, theoretically
speaking, with the higher-level needs of the fraternity to have members
increase their knowledge and understanding of Masonry and also the needs
of the institution for restructuring.
What about Maslow's theory and fraternity
membership and attendance? First, that all people need to feel safe,
secure and accepted. Secondly, people are unlikely to stay with
activities or get involved if they are made to feel insecure or
incompetent. We need to plan activities that meet the needs of the
membership and are thereby likely to increase motivation to attend lodge
and to want to participate in the work of lodge. Of course, there are
legitimate objections to trying to meet the needs of others. It is
exhausting and time-consuming work.
3.4 The Environmental
Theory
If this theory is correct, given
a choice, we would naturally seek the greater pleasure and avoid the
greater pain. If forced to choose between two painful or unacceptable
situations we will choose what we perceive as the less painful. When the
choice is between the acceptable and the unacceptable, we will seek out
the acceptable and do everything in our power to avoid the
unacceptable.
Anxiety is explained by this model in terms of the
emotional conflicts we face in our choices, for example, in having to
choose the lesser of two evils. In terms of lodge, the conflict might be
something like this. I enjoy meeting my friends and the social hour
afterwards; I dislike the business part of the meeting and some of the
ritual. If I choose to avoid what displeases me by staying away from
lodge, then I also miss seeing my friends. If I choose to attend lodge,
then I have to endure the unpleasantness of the meeting and the ritual.
The theory states that if on the whole meeting my friends and
socializing with them is more pleasing to me than putting up with the
meeting and the ritual is unpleasant, then I will be more likely to
attend lodge meetings. However, if the unpleasantness I experience is
greater, then I will probably not attend, or make excuses for not
attending. Yet, whatever I choose to do, I will have to put up with
doing something which has unpleasant consequences for me.
If what I have said is typical of human beings,
our behavior would seem to be governed by a system of rewards and
punishment. Unfortunately, this model of motivation leaves some
questions unresolved. We are not always able to predict the results of
our choices. We don't always know what will be rewarding or threatening.
One man's reward may be another man's pain. The model is only as good as
our experience. We can say with hindsight that if attendance drops in
lodge, whatever is happening it is not rewarding enough to generate
attendance. However, if each lodge were to try to give most members what
they want, what pleases them, would we be able to keep the traditional
landmarks of Masonry? Would Freemasonry as we know it survive? Could it
still be called Freemasonry? However, if we do not give people for the
most part what they want, what pleases them, would the membership not
vote with their feet by walking away? Would that be an end to
Freemasonry anyway? An interesting dilemma, if this model is indeed
valid, which I doubt it is. The model, allow me to suggest, is only
partly true. It does not take into account our cognitive nature, the
fact that we can give meaning to our experience, a meaning that may take
us beyond considerations of pleasure and pain. We do make sacrifices for
the sake of duty and principle.
3.5 The Cognitive
Theory
Cognitive models of human
motivation are based on the assumption that we are strongly influenced
in what we do by our beliefs and our values. Accordingly, we would tend
to do some things not because others would approve and reward us for
doing so, but because of their inherent value to us or from a
consideration of principle. People are naturally motivated to explore,
learn, and have fun. Some people like to learn simply for the sake of
learning, not simply for the sake of present reward or future promotion.
Some people join fraternal orders because it means a lot to them
personally to do so. Some attend lodge because it is somehow meaningful
to them. Prospective members would have to know something about the
fraternal order they are planning to join if joining was to be based on
what is meaningful to them. Finding what is meaningful to members would
also be an important strategy when planning events which one would hope
would attract attendance.
3.6 The Functional Autonomy
Theory
In the course of my University
studies one article had a profound impact on my thinking about human
motivation. The principle of psychology announced in that article
remains to this day an important part of my thinking about motivation,
as important as Pavlov's theory of conditioning and Freud's theory of
the unconscious. It's called the principle of the functional autonomy
of motives.
Before describing Allport's theory of the
functional autonomy of motives, I would like to recall an important
Aristotelian-Thomistic principle of psychology, namely the idea of
habits. Everything we learn through experience becomes habit. Much of
what we do as adults is learned in childhood and continues to be done by
us, not consciously and deliberately, but unconsciously and out of
habit, like tying our shoe laces. We eat at certain times of the
day because we are used to eating at those times. Its a matter of
habit. We may eat at those times whether hungry or not. Likewise, we may
have the habit of reading or attending theatre, or we may have the habit
of keeping our appointments on time. We usually acquire such habits
early in our youth. We do not reflect on why we do these things or even
whether we really enjoy doing them; they are simply a part of our lives
because we are used to doing them. They have become habits, part of our
routine of living.
For example, not telling the truth would be
difficult for someone if they were in the habit of telling the
truth. A deep-seated habit, once acquired, can seem so natural to us
that we may feel we were born that way and there's nothing we can do
about it. For example, how would you feel about wearing or not wearing
your hat in church or when seated in a concert hall? Habits become
second nature to us. To change habits, even though they are learned
behavior, can be exceedingly difficult and painful, and sometimes
downright nearly impossible, like an addiction to drugs or food. It is
the task of psychotherapists and psychiatrists to help us deal with
unwanted habits, especially those we decide are bad or harmful to us,
like drug or food addictions.
The functional autonomy principle suggests another
way of thinking about human motivation, quite different from any other
theory. In the mature personality, for instance, habits, skills and
behavioral patterns originally developed for instinctual satisfaction
may become self-motivating and independent from their historical causes.
For example, whatever motive a Mason may have had for joining the order,
that may no longer be what motivates him to continue attending meetings
or participating in Lodge activities.
For Gordon Allport, who first published the theory
in 1937, human motives in the adult human being are contemporary and
independent of the original drive. Allport wanted to account
psychologically for the uniqueness of each personality and wanted to
oppose the idea of trying to reduce personalities to historically
elementary motives. He also wanted to account for phenomena like a
human's lasting, stable interest in something; the persistence of habit
when the incentive has been removed; the endless variety of human goals;
the compulsive behavior that continues after the original reason has
disappeared.
Habits, of course, may themselves become driving
forces. At first, I may attend Lodge because I want to become a Master
Mason. After becoming a Master Mason, I may still attend Lodge regularly
because I like meeting with my friends or because I enjoy the
ritual.
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4. Trends in Fraternal
Associations
4.1 Fraternal Societies in Early
America
From 1760 to 1830 secular
voluntary organizations, like the Freemasons, developed gradually along
with charitable organizations, fire societies and professional
societies. They were centered mainly in Boston and supported the
republican concept of citizenship. They provided opportunity for
personal recognition, self-improvement, and mutual reinforcement, all of
which were important in the culture of the times.
From the 1800s into the early 1900s large numbers
of people joined women's clubs and civic groups. Secret fraternal
societies and fraternal orders were very popular. Between 1880 and 1900
there were more than 460 fraternal associations and by 1901 an estimated
600 orders had 5 million members. The most popular and prestigious was
the Ancient and Accepted Order of Freemasons, predominantly white, male
and Protestant.
Scholars have alleged that societies like
Freemasonry and the Odd Fellows, among the largest organizations in the
late 1800s, conferred middle-class respectability on their members.
Others have claimed that fraternal associations helped develop working
class solidarity. Local lodges seem to have varied in three ways: as
substantially working class; as including also equal numbers from white
collar occupations; or shop owners and skilled workers. To quote one
study: in effect, these orders helped institutionalize bonds between the
working-class and the business class and to provide status and unity in
an otherwise discordant, disorganized social community. The societies
provided opportunity for upward social mobility, as well as setting
standards of acceptable behavior, indirectly exerting some social
control over society.
There are those who maintain that the forces
operating to attract membership in fraternal societies and in
determining the continued existence of a society like Freemasonry were
social rather than psychological. Others suggest the appeal of secret
societies was more psychological, or equally psychological and social.
For example, the appeal of an order like Freemasonry with its Old
Testament orientation, its monotheistic teaching, its rationalism and
universalism, its ritual and the practice of a moralism that was
exemplary rather than crusading, would have appealed to late 19th
century immigrant Reform Jews and older American nonevangelical
Protestants. Also, to quote one researcher, (fraternal organizations
like Freemasonry) were strong in great relief work, fraternal solicitude
for members, unselfish and self-sacrificing acts of personal devotion,
and in teaching of right ideals and habits of action.
4.2 Patterns of Growth and
Decline
Several studies of the growth
and decline of Freemasonry and related societies have been published in
the United States. Similar studies have not been undertaken in Canada,
but we know that the patterns are similar. In the state of Maryland, for
example, Masonic membership increased from 8000 in 1900 to 48,000 in
1960, and then declined to 36,000 in 1985, a drop of 12,000 members.
Correspondingly, the population of the state in the same time period has
steadily increased. Membership in The Odd Fellows also grew to 23,000 in
1925 and declined to a low of 1200 in 1985; the Knights of Pythias
membership is at a low of 1000. A study of the records shows that the
1920s were the last year of significant growth for orders and fraternal
societies.
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5. Future Prospects
5.1
Reasons for the Decline and Its Implications
Why has membership attendance declined among fraternal
societies? To find an answer to this question, Masons in the states of
Maryland, Kansas, Missouri and California have recently questioned their
members. There are some difficulties with interpreting the results of
the surveys. The difficulties have to do with the sampling.
Nevertheless, it may be instructive to examine what these surveys show,
whether or not we can directly relate to them. The reasons most
frequently mentioned were:
* time conflict with work
* no longer live in
the area (of Lodge)
* unsafe meeting locations
* inconvenient
meeting times
* dull, long, uninteresting meetings
* no
transportation
Small communities were found to be more likely to
have better attendance and attendance tended to be poorer in large
cities. Also, a member's activity in Lodge tends to peak after 10 years.
Masons who belong to city Lodges seem to prefer monthly meetings, while
members of country Lodges prefer biweekly meetings.
When asked what would entice attendance, most
replied that they would like more Masonic education. They would also
like to see regular attendees be more sensitive to the embarrassment
non-attendees may feel upon returning to lodge after prolonged absence.
Others wanted more family activities, more involvement in community
affairs, more entertainment at meetings, a more relaxed atmosphere, less
formal dress at meetings, and more interesting meetings. Many questioned
the time spent opening and closing Lodge and in the business part of the
evening.
The declining public interest in Freemasonry and
related societies has been attributed to factors such as urbanization,
anonymity, secularization, and resistance to organizational change.
Their usefulness is passe. Society no longer needs them as agencies of
social integration, social prestige, benevolence and
religion.
Freemasonry, more than any other fraternal order,
promoted a philosophy of life. That philosophy, as those who are
Freemasons know, is based on allegory and legend presented in and
through ritual. It has no order of worship. Hence it is not a religion.
The order exists today, as it always has existed, mainly to preserve
transmit, encourage and enhance its philosophy through fellowship and
service. Its procedures, customs and regalia set apart its
members.
Critics from within complain that members
sometimes make the ritual the be-all and end-all of Freemasonry. Others
object to the requirement of evening wear. It's out of step with the
times. Evening wear is not a standard item today. Few own black tie
outfits and the purchase of this item of clothing can be excessively
costly. Besides, no one makes it clear how evening wear enhances the
substance of the order's purpose, namely, promoting a philosophy of life
rather than social elitism, which evening wear symbolizes today. Evening
dress is identified as the badge of the Yuppies, a generation presently
out of sympathy with society. Seldom does one see celebrities appearing
on TV in evening wear, except for events like the movie industry's
academy awards. Even then not everyone is dressed in traditional formal
evening wear.
Schmidt and Bubchuk suggest that Freemasonry is an
anachronism to contemporary young adults raised in the latter part of
the 20th century. It's now more than 200 years since the establishment
of the institution. Values have shifted to egalitarianism, equal
opportunity, and a more participatory democratic approach to management.
Fraternal orders in their hey-day were an important part of male society
when we were mostly a small-town society. There was a need then to help
immigrants settle. There were needs for health care, job security,
privately established orphanages. Fraternities provided educational
opportunity for the many who could ill afford it. As Schmidt and Babchuk
note: today, with increasing anonymity of the individual, and when pomp
and ceremony are less meaningful, institutions which work against the
trend may be perceived as anachronistic and hangers-on from bygone
times.
What does it mean to impress strangers?
Conspicuous consumption is today's mark of the successful man or woman,
not how much good you do. Status, if that is indeed why people joined
secret societies and fraternities, could be found not by joining a
lodge, but by joining exclusive country clubs and high profile
professional associations.
We now have a plethora of volunteer groups: the
Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, environmental movements, Rotary,
Kiwanis, the large and prestigious American Psychological Association,
the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Society for the Study of
Education, Phi Delta Kappa, to name a few, as well as many science
associations and environmentalist organizations too numerous to list.
There are plenty of avenues for achieving status, of which Freemasonry
is only one, and one which socially may not be highly prized. Let's face
it, it's not the social norm today to belong to a fraternal order like
the Freemasons.
The media seem to like to belittle fraternalism,.
Freemasonry itself has been recently condemned from church pulpits and
in religious publications. The culture of school and society do not
encourage belonging to nonprofessional fraternal organizations. It's
doubtful that public relations programs by themselves could be
instrumental in causing great numbers to beat a path to the doors of
Freemasonry. Nor would allowing solicitation likely improve the
situation, nor public service projects.
At best we can only speculate about why anyone
joins an order like Freemasonry. Human motives are complex. Scholars and
scientists do not agree among themselves about the nature of human
motivation. We might be able to say in general why men and women join
fraternal orders, but to predict whether a fraternal order would appeal
to any particular individual is either guess-work or sheer presumption.
Some Freemasons, I imagine, would like to believe that people join to
attain the knowledge of its secrets and mysteries and to benefit from
the obligations of the brotherhood to each other.
Schmidt in his study of fraternal organizations
concluded that there are four possible reasons influencing people to
join a fraternal association: social integration, religion and morality,
economic security, and social prestige. I would add community
involvement, which Dr. Brent Morris mentions in his studies.
As we have already noted, immigrants, when
arriving to new communities, look for social integration. This seems to
be true today no less than it was in the early 1900s. In North America
we are still experiencing influxes of immigrants desirous of social
integration. Fraternities have been, were, and can still be one avenue
to achieve that integration.
At the turn of the century economic security was
high on the list of human needs. High on the list of social
needs was the need for orphanages, old-age homes, many once built
and financed by Masons, Odd Fellows, Phythians and other fraternal
orders. The social welfare state had not yet emerged. There were no
social security benefits, pensions, publicly run retirement homes,
minimum wage laws, child welfare benefits, college and university
bursaries. Health care provisions were limited, insurance programs were
inadequate or non-existent. Conditions of employment were often
deplorable, with no industrial safety codes to protect the
workmen.
Social conditions have changed. We have a
considerable range of job benefits and strict industrial codes for
safety. Medical care has improved, as well as workmen's compensation
benefits. Child welfare societies are now supported by government grants
and public subscription campaigns. Pension plans are constantly being
improved. All these social changes have perhaps diminished the need for
most of the tangible benefits that were provided in the past by
membership in a fraternal order.
The situation might best be summarized in the
words of Charles Ferguson, the author of Fifty Million
Brothers:
There can be no doubt, however, that the
emphasis on the cash-and-carry benefits of brotherhood attracted
swarms of members - good as well as bad. The lodge was a sanctuary
which would protect them from the preying beasts of insecurity and
want. The [economic] appeals of the lodge may seem to us quaint and
overdrawn today, but they were addressed to realities on a plane on
which men lived.
All lodges of the order of Odd Fellows in 1988 had
to pay weekly sick benefits, which were considered a right of the
brethren and not a charity. Eventually, the order acknowledged that this
was attracting members for the wrong reason. They rescinded this
regulation, deploring the type of person who would join simply for the
promise of money. The damage had been done. The order declined in
membership and today is practically extinct.
Issues of religion and morality have apparently
been important to fraternal societies. Freemasonry is an example of one
such society. When the Louisiana Territory was settled, there were no
Churches. The settlers had to content themselves with reading the family
Bible and attending the local Lodge, causing many settlers to identify
the Masonic Fraternity as a religion. This opinion is still voiced by
prominent nonmembers of the community.
How much social prestige is there today for
someone who joins a fraternal society like Freemasonry? In the
small-town society of the past, you could impress your neighbor by
taking part in public ceremonies, decked out in regalia. Everybody knew
everybody. Mobility was limited, anonymity hard to come by. Media like
radio, television, magazines, and theatre were limited or
nonexistent.
With more and more people moving to large cities,
where you were more likely to be known by very few people, who was there
to impress? Prestige comes now via the mass media, not by participation
in Lodge activities. Decline in membership and Lodge participation can
be attributed in part not only to a lack of organizational restructuring
in keeping with a society constantly in the process of restructuring,
almost every 10 years, but also the inability of fraternal orders to
provide social prestige. Practically the only way a Freemason can expect
social prestige is from within Freemasonry itself, by advancing in rank
or by joining appendant bodies like the Royal Arch, the Scottish Rite or
the Shriners.
When lodges get too big, it's difficult to
maintain a sense of fellowship. After the end of World War II veterans
flocked to join fraternities, some of them military fraternal
associations. The lodges were inundated with candidates. Many new lodges
were created to meet the influx of new members. Now the veterans are
declining in numbers and there are not enough new candidates to replace
them. Today, numbers are needed to finance a lodge, yet numbers may be
an impediment to generating a healthy and rewarding sense of fellowship.
One contemporary adage suggests that small is beautiful. For lodges this
may be so.
The run-away inflation of the last two decades
could well be another factor contributing to declining membership. Dues
structures have been static. The unwillingness to raise dues in keeping
with inflation and the declining income from initiation fees has
probably had a more disastrous effect on fraternal associations than any
other conceivable cause. Raising initiation fees or dues probably won't
solve the financial woes besetting fraternal orders (or professional
societies). An initiation fee that might have equaled a week's pay at
the beginning of the century would only equal a family dinner at a very
nice restaurant.
Dying fraternities seem to be like dying Churches,
they want to believe that they alone have the truth and they alone are
doing things right. They want to believe that if people walk away from
them, then there is something wrong with the people, not with the
institutions, or the leadership of those institutions. This attitude is
typical of the self-righteous. To quote an insight coming from a
favorite Masonic researcher of mine, Dr. Brent Morris, a past Grand
Lodge officer of the Masons of Maryland:
[The leaders] are like small children whimpering
during a thunderstorm: unaware of what is really happening, unsure of
what to do, and frightened by the apparent chaos of
nature.
And, again,
A Church with a failing membership will consider
any explanation for its decline, except that its tenets are
false or that its dogma is wrong. Similarly, fraternities equate
suggestions of change with doubts of their fundamental, fraternal
principles and mount a tenacious defense against all perceived
attacks. Thus in the context of this fierce protection of
organizational raison d'être, to intimate that procedural
changes may be appropriate is to advocate the abandonment of the
ritual or to deny the principles of the order, to even hint that the
Emperor has no clothes is to conspire against the state. Fraternal
change is inevitable; the only question is whether it will be planned
or accidental. Time alone will provide the
answer.
Fraternal orders have been criticized for allowing
ethnocentric and oligarchic tendencies to take over. Ethnocentric
associations tend to see themselves as the center of everything; all
other organizations and individuals are scaled and rated with reference
to themselves. Oligarchy exists when the leaders of an organization
repeatedly succeed themselves in one or more executive or committee
positions over a number of years. The first is an instance of arrogance,
which can easily happen when confidence is not tempered by compassion
and love. The second reflects an impoverished leadership.
Oligarchy means simply rule of the few.
Freemasonry has had a tradition of supporting democracy in the affairs
of men and encouraging freedom of thought and expression. The
institution has historically been opposed to dogmatism and
authoritarianism and governance in the interests of the few.
5.2 The Ideal of
Community
Individuals need to be
identified with others who have interests, problems and values in
common. We need a community formed of members free to choose whether or
not to participate. Such ties are looser than family, more fragile, and
likely to go to pieces in the absence of conscientious dedication,
effort and care. The word community is made of two words: com (together)
and munis (ready to be of service). It means not only being in the same
boat, but pulling in unison on the oars.
Social instinct seems to show up as a feeling of
community, a feeling that goes beyond any practical benefits to be
derived from cooperation. Companionship, tolerance, thoughtfulness, and
generosity are the special ingredients. It is the feeling that is the
driving force behind the success of a community. Once the feeling is
gone, so is the membership.
The readiness to serve and to share is the essence
of community. This is also the chief characteristic of the civilized
person. The other side of the coin is selfish, self-serving, egocentric
behavior, a kind of infantilism or behavior typical of primitive
consciousness. The idea that everything is "me" or "mine" or for "me"
characterizes the self-seeker who wants everything his way and is
willing to be destructive to have his way.
The idea of community is perverted when the poor
begin to support the rich in their life-style and when the weak support
the strong. The outcome of such perversion is oppression and beastly
barbarism. Democracy began when the traders and merchants of medieval
Europe rebelled against the oppression of the strong and the
rich.
The guilds of Medieval Europe, often associated
with the idea of Freemasonry, were important to the growth of the
civilized community as we know it today. At their best, they were
community-minded. True, they acted primarily in the interest of their
members. At the same time they did much to improve the life of all
citizens. However, they became too narrowly focused on perpetuating
their monopolies and privileges and hence when they lost their public
spiritedness, they slipped into decline.
If the millennium is ever to arrive, it
will have started in our own back yard. It will require a renewal of
community spirit, one characterized by helpfulness, consideration,
accommodation and mutual respect.
5.3 Restructuring For The
Twenty-first Century
Toffler, the
author of Future Shock and The Third Wave, suggests that our
present values and institutions are not so much in a state of collapse
as they are in need of radical reorganization and restructuring. To map
the outline of tomorrow's society we need a new vision. The book of
Wisdom reminds us that without vision the people fail. The vision
must be the vision of individuals, not the words contained in
constitutions and ritual. Vision, after all, is what impregnates the
subconscious mind and it is the power of that subconscious mind that not
only taps into universal truth, but recognizes it as truth, and then
brings to pass that which only the faint dream of and the strong
achieve. The strength, however, is in the vision and in the belief in
that vision and the power behind it to make it manifest.
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6. Suggested Readings and References
Brent, S. Morris (1982). The public image of
freemasonry. The Royal Arch Mason Magazine 14(4),
105-111.
________________ (1982). Trends affecting American
freemasonry. The Philalethes 35(2), 16-17.
________________ (1983).
The siren song of solicitation. The Royal Arch Mason Magazine
14(6):?.
____________ (1985). Membership survey results. California
Freemason 33(1), 21-24.
________________ (1988). Boom to bust in the
twentieth century. Freemasonry and American fraternities.
Texas Lodge
of Research.
________________ (n.d.). Looking to the Future. Summary
and Implications of a Survey of Maryland Masons. (n.p.)
Brent, S.
Morris and Wilson, John (1978). A survey of Kansas freemasons, 1977.
Manuscript, Duke University.
Brown, Richard D. (1973). The emergence
of voluntary associations in Massachusetts, 176-1830. Journal of
Voluntary Action Research 2(2):64-73.
Clawson, Mary Ann (1985).
Fraternal orders and class formation in the nineteenth-century United
States. Comparative Studies in Society and History
27(4)672-695.
Denslow, Ray Vaughn (1925). Territorial masonry.
Washington: The Masonic Service Association of the United
States.
Doyle, Don H. (1977). The social functions of voluntary
associations in a nineteenth-century american town.
Social Science
History 1(3):333-355.
Dumenil, Lynn (1984). Freemasonry and American
Culture, 1890-1920. NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ferguson, Charles
W. (1937). Fifty Million Brothers. New York: Farrar &
Rinehart
Gist, Noel (1940). Secret societies: a cultural study of
fraternalism in the united states. University of Missouri Studies,
9-176.
Grun, Bernard (1982). The timetables of history. A horizontal
linkage of people and events. NY: Simon & Schuster.
Johnson,
David O. (1981). Turning the craft outwards. The New Age 89(11),
14-17
Lamp, E. Joseph (1986). Summary information of survey results
provided for the masonic administration of Maryland (survey one -current
members). Arnold, Md.: Anne Arundel Community College
Opinion
Research Division (1982). Attitudes toward the Masonic home of Missouri.
St. Louis.: Fleishman, Hillard.Schmidt, Alvin J. (1973). Oligarchy in
fraternal organizations. Detroit: Gale Research Co.
_________________
(1980). Fraternal organizations. Westport, Ct.:Greenwood
Press.
_________________ and Babchuk, Nicholas (1973). Trends in U.S.
fraternal associations in the twentieth century. Voluntary Action
Research: 1973. David Horton, ed. Lexington Books.
Toffler, Alvin
(1983). Previews & Premises. NY: William Morrow &
Co.
Vondracek, Felix John (1972). The rise of fraternal organizations
in the United States, 1868-1900. Social Science 47(1):26-33.
Urdang,
Laurence, Ed. (1981). The timetables of American history. NY: Simon
& Schuster.
Wilson, John (1980). Voluntary associations and civil
religion: the case of freemasonry. Review of Religions Research 22(2),
125-136.
____________ (1985). Membership survey results. California
Freemason 33(1), 21-24. back to top |
