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Secrecy: by Georg Simmel
Secrecy defined by Simmel as the condition in which one person has the intention of hiding something while the other is seeking to reveal what is being hidden.(Ritzer, 2006) People are forced to know an array of things about other people in order to interact with them, but as much as we learn about another person we can never truly know everything about them; thoughts, intentions and moods. (Ritzer, 2006) This key concept is one of the most interesting and mysterious observation that sociologist Georg Simmel revealed about the world. (Ritzer, 2006)

Simmel's Legacy
Georg Simmel was born on March 1, 1858, in the intellectual center of Berlin, Germany. (Geser) He graduated from the University of Berlin with a doctorate in philosophy, but continued to study courses ranging from logic and the history of philosophy to ethics, social psychology, and sociology. Georg Simmel is central to understanding German modernism and his intellectual imprint is vast and encompasses most of what classical German social theory is all about. (Geser)

Georg Simmel was a marginal man in the world of German academia. (Ritzer, 2006) At his time he was not considered as a well known sociologist, but now is considered one of the masters of theory. (Ritzer, 2006) He occupied mediocre academic positions throughout his life and did not earn a regular salary, but made a living off of student fees and essays for newspapers. He knew Max Weber and many other intellectuals of his time, but was still thought of as an outcast because he was Jewish. (Ritzer, 2006)

Simmel had an array of social theories to explain the world around him.(Ritzer, 2006) As a social theorist he attempted to explain issues of the tragedy of culture, association, group size, and the stranger. (Ritzer, 2006) These contributions have set forth the path to the German modernism movement. (Leck:13)

Simmel’s most intriguing and mysterious concept is secrecy. This concept is still relevant today and sheds light into the shadows of who are friends, family and lovers really are. (Ritzer, 2006) His concept shakes up our notions of every really knowing somebody and forever removes the idea of perfect trust. (Ritzer, 2006)

The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies
The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies was where the Georg Simmel first began to write about the concept of secrecy. (Simmel) Simmel goes on to state that all relationships of people to each other rest, as a matter of course, upon the precondition that they know something about each other. (Simmel) The salesman knows that his consumer wants to buy at the lowest price and the consumer knows the salesman wants to sell at the highest price.(Hazelrigg) Outside this simply display of intentions the true knowing of a person becomes much more complex. A person’s mood, intentions and sexual desires may not be as easily identified or projected by the person. Our fellowman either may voluntarily reveal to us the truth about him or may lie and deceive us about the truth of the true person they are. (Simmel)

The stronger the relationship with a person is the more information we are willing to share about ourselves.(Ritzer, 2006) With people that are not as close to our lives we will not tell them everything about ourselves. (Simmel) This leaving out of who we are is our social secrecy and no matter what every person has a bit of it in our social being. We are only able to divulge a certain quantity of information to other people because each person is unable to compute the vast information that encompasses who we truly are. No matter how close we are to a person it is impossible to divulge everything about yourself.(Ritzer, 2006: 46) So, we subjectively pick what we want others to know about who we truly are.(Ritzer, 2006:46)  Leaving the rest of what are in the shadows of secrecy. (Ritzer, 2006)

Lying
The lie is a form of interaction in which a person intentionally hides the truth from others.(Ritzer, 2006:46) The lie is essential to protect that person from hurting others or to keep secret the true intentions of a given encounter. (Ritzer, 2006) However, an excess of lying will break social relationships. (Ritzer, 2006) This leaves others being deceived about who we truly are. The deception can be felt in degrees of pain by how close the deceivers are to us. (Ritzer, 2006) When we learn that a car salesman has deceived us this produces reactions that are less hurtful than that of our spouse lying. (Ritzer, 2006) The car salesman has preconceived stereotypes of being deceitful and has a bit of distance from our immediate life, but our spouse or loved ones are very close to us and are expected to tell us the truth. (Ritzer, 2006)

Excessive Self-Revelation
Within a close relationship, marriage, lovers and parents, there are preconceived notions that all must be known about each member in the group. (Simmel) The main goal of the relationship is to reveal all about all to the partner of the relationship; however this brings about a problem. (Ritzer, 2006) Complete self-revelation makes an relationship of marriage a matter of true fact removing it from a social relationship. This transformation brings with it a denuding of our personal secrets and leaves our partners bored about who we truly are. The secrecy of our true being brings to our partners a bit of excitement which can give fuel to a lasting love life.(Ritzer, 2006) Without a bit of secrecy we retard the very essence of a social relationship

Secrecy and the Stanger
The final concept that Simmel contends to about secrecy is when it relates to the stranger. (Mclemore, 2006) The stranger, defined by distance, is one who is neither to close or to far. (Ritzer, 2006:46)  If the stranger became too close they would no longer be a stranger, but be a member of the group.(Ritzer, 2006)  However, if the stranger were too far away they would cease to be in contact with the individual. This unusually distance leads to some unusually patterns of interaction amongst the two. (Ritzer, 2006) The strange is not part of the immediate group the individual is more likely to divulge personal secrets and desires to that person because they feel that it will not get back to the group. This is an area were the deep self secrecy may surface and be shown to another person. A popular case study of this phenomenon in action is on HBO’s Taxi Cab Confessions. On this documentary they hide small cameras in taxi cabs to catch the action of the night in large cities around America. The riders tell the cab driver all about their secret lives; including adultery, drug use, sexual habits and violent thoughts. This openness to express their inner self is only shared because they believe they will never come in contact with this person again. The true self will never be shared to those in their group because it could bring shame and hurt to all members of it. (Ritzer, 2006)