Many sociologists who examined the phenomenon of secrecy considered

Question

Many sociologists who examined the phenomenon of secrecy considered secrets morally negative because they defined secrets by their content: if concealed information is negative, it is "secret"; if it is positive or neutral, it is merely "private" Berlin-born philosopher Georg Simmel (1858-1918) departed from this approach, arguing that a secret is defined not by the kind of information concealed, but by the fact of concealment. A secret is like a box into which any content can be placed; whatever the content, the box, in itself, is morally neutral. Unlike something locked in a box, however, a secret is not the internal private knowledge of a single person. Simmel saw secrecy as predicated upon a social relationship: use of the word secret demands that more than one person know, but that others be excluded. When we receive information, to know that it is secret, we must be told not to tell anyone. Furthermore, knowledge of the existence of a secret is separate from knowledge of its content. By removing the moral bias, Simmers framework facilitated objective study of secrets. However Simmels discussion of disclosure seems to belie his contention that secrets are morally neutral. For him, inherent in every secret lies the possibility, and the desire, for revelation—regardless of the consequences. This "attraction of the  abyss " gives secrets their "moral badness." Since disclosure of a secret is naughty, and secrecy and disclosure must coexist, the immorality of disclosure taints the secret itself

One specific example of research into secrecy is Beryl Bellman's study of the "secret societies" of the West African Kpelle: religious associations, segregated by gender, that all Kpelle are expected to join. Initiated adults learn restricted information such as the true identities of "spirits," society members wearing masks for ceremonies, who are believed to be supernatural beings. Kpelle ideology holds that the uninitiated do not know that these spirits are really society members. The initiated may not tell a society's secrets to non-members; Kpelle tradition insists that non-members are not allowed to know. However, Bellman showed that anyone may, in fact, know a society's secrets. The Kpelle word translated as "secret" literally means "you may not speak it." If nonmembers learn secrets, they are restricted from revealing that they know by penalties ranging from monetary fines to death. Bellman could write about Kpelle societies without violating their rules by focusing not on the content of the secrets, but on their form. Bellman's realization shows that the mechanism of Kpelle secrecy relies on Simmel's model: the importance of keeping of secrets (nondisclosure) as a social act with rules and consequences carries the burden of morality rather than the personal, internal knowledge of the content of the secret.    1 
 1. The "abyss" referred to by Simmel ( Highlighted ) is best defined as

A. a deed that is both exciting and dangerous
B. the ultimate punishment established for telling a secret
C. the gap between early models of secrecy and his approach
D. the distance between two people that is bridged by sharing a secret
E. a feature of the topography in Western Africa

2 
 2. Based on the passage, which of the following situations would most clearly violate the rules of a Kpelle secret society?

A. A foreign scholar publishes a book about the organization of Kpelle secret societies
B. A woman claims she knows the details of mens initiation rituals
C. A man learns the ritual knowledge of a women's secret society
D. Two women are overheard discussing the identities of their secret society's "spirits"
E. A secret is passed on with the words "don't tell anyone, but..."

3 
 3. From the information in this passage, the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

A. Secrets contain personal information but lies can be about anything.
B. The best social scientists' work must contain no contradictions.
C. All Kpelle adults know the secrets of the secret societies.
D. Sociologically, how people behave is at least as important as what they know.
E. It is impossible to eliminate a moral dimension from the concept of secrets.

AnirudhaS · Accepted Answer

*Note - The passage was a bit dense to read. Whenever I encounter such passages, I try to keep track of the overall objective of the author. Having said that, I still had to read the passage twice.

Answers are in bold.

1. The "abyss" referred to by Simmel (Highlighted) is best defined as
A. a deed that is both exciting and dangerous
B. the ultimate punishment established for telling a secret
C. the gap between early models of secrecy and his approach
D. the distance between two people that is bridged by sharing a secret
E. a feature of the topography in Western Africa

Explanation of question 1
This was the easiest of the lot. The meaning of the word abyss means its a very long well/hole, stretching almost endlessly. In the context of the passage Simmel used it as a "moral badness". I would also like to point out to this part - "a desire for revelation, regardless of consequence". Now this to me is exciting ([desire for revelation) and dangerous (regardless of consequence) is nothing but choice A.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Based on the passage, which of the following situations would most clearly violate the rules of a Kpelle secret society?
A. A foreign scholar publishes a book about the organization of Kpelle secret societies
B. A woman claims she knows the details of mens initiation rituals
C. A man learns the ritual knowledge of a women's secret society
D. Two women are overheard discussing the identities of their secret society's "spirits"
E. A secret is passed on with the words "don't tell anyone, but..."

Explanation of question 2
Before we start to answer this, let quickly go through the passage where the author was referring to Kpelle and find out what is clearly a No No for this secret society. o two things come in light, - 1. that initiated members do not say secrets to non-member, 2. secrets - you may not speak of it (so even if you are a non-member you may not speak of it). Now lets go to the choices -
A - The scholar publishes book about the Kpelle, not specifically about Kpelle's secrets.
B - When a woman (member or non-member) is claiming, she is basically saying it out loud. #2 rule is 'you may not speak of it'. Bad woman! This is in clear violation of the the rule. This is a strong choice, we keep this in.
C - Ok, man learns the ritual of women's secret society. Not great, but as long as he does not blurt it out we are okay as per the rules of Kpelle.
D - Alright, this is a tough one. There are various possibilities, 1. both women are members but the one overhearing is not, 2. both women are members and the one overhearing is also a member, 3. one of the woman telling the other is a non-member, and overhearing person is non-member....etc. Now there is a possibility here that we have all people concerned are members of the society (possibility #2). So I guess it is possibly not violating the Kpelle rule.
E - 'You may not speak of it' is only the translation of the Kpelle word secret. Actually there is no mention if this is how secrets can be passed along with context to the passage.
Strongest choice would be B.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. From the information in this passage, the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?
A. Secrets contain personal information but lies can be about anything.
B. The best social scientists' work must contain no contradictions.
C. All Kpelle adults know the secrets of the secret societies.
D. Sociologically, how people behave is at least as important as what they know.
E. It is impossible to eliminate a moral dimension from the concept of secrets.

Explanation of question 3
A - Author might agree with Simmel here that secrets can be anything, not just a type of information. Out.
B - Is it even talked about in this passage? Wait let me check...... (30 sec later)... No, confirmed! Out.
C - All adults? Even the ones not initiated? Non-members? Are all adults members of Kpelle secret society? Surely not - where would be the exclusivity then!

. Its like - Sir, would you like to be one of our EXCLUSIVE members of this exquisite golf club, ohh and fyi every single last one in town are members!!
D - I would like to quote the last line of the passage here - "Bellman's realization shows that the mechanism of Kpelle secrecy relies on Simmel's model: the importance of keeping of secrets (nondisclosure) as a social act with rules and consequences carries the burden of morality rather than the personal, internal knowledge of the content of the secret." This morality of secret keeping is quite important in the context of sociology, at least as important as the information it contains.
E - Impossible? Well according to Simmel the secrets should be morally neutral. So although in some instances there might be a moral dimension to the concept of secret keeping, I think 'impossible' is a strong word here. Out.

. Its like - Sir, would you like to be one of our EXCLUSIVE members of this exquisite golf club, ohh and fyi every single last one in town are members!! D - I would like to quote the last line of the passage here - "Bellman's realization shows that the mechanism of Kpelle secrecy relies on Simmel's model: the importance of keeping of secrets (nondisclosure) as a social act with rules and consequences carries the burden of morality rather than the personal, internal knowledge of the content of the secret." This morality of secret keeping is quite important in the context of sociology, at least as important as the information it contains. E - Impossible? Well according to Simmel the secrets should be morally neutral. So although in some instances there might be a moral dimension to the concept of secret keeping, I think 'impossible' is a strong word here. Out.

bM22 · Answer

1. The "abyss" referred to by Simmel (Highlighted) is best defined as

A. a deed that is both exciting and dangerous -  Correct - as mentioned in the passage: " inherent in every secret lies the possibility, and the desire, for revelation—regardless of the consequences. This "attraction of the abyss" gives secrets their "moral badness." " 
This clearly implies that the excitement in keeping the secret and the consequences that one might face if its revealed, makes a secret an attraction.

B. the ultimate punishment established for telling a secret -  Incorrect  as its not only the punishment that a secret attracts, its the excitement of disclosure that come with it too.

C. the gap between early models of secrecy and his approach -  Incorrect  as Out of Scope.

D. the distance between two people that is bridged by sharing a secret -  Incorrect  as abyss is the gap not the abridgment of gap.

E. a feature of the topography in Western Africa -  Incorrect  as out of scope and not related to answer at all.

2. Based on the passage, which of the following situations would most clearly violate the rules of a Kpelle secret society?

A. A foreign scholar publishes a book about the organization of Kpelle secret societies -  Incorrect  as mentioned in the last para : "Bellman could write about Kpelle societies without violating their rules by focusing not on the content of the secrets, but on their form." so the foreign author would not be violating any rules of secret society as he would not be discussing the secrets.

B. A woman claims she knows the details of mens initiation rituals -  Correct  - as this could possibly violate the rules, since the woman is claims that know the rituals, implying she is ready to speak out the secret.

C. A man learns the ritual knowledge of a women's secret society -  Incorrect  as the man has become aware of the secret but the line does not mention anything about the disclosure of the secret, so the man might have only learned about the secret and not spoken about it, so it doesn't really violate the rules of the secret society.

D. Two women are overheard discussing the identities of their secret society's "spirits" -  Incorrect  as both the women who are discussing the spirits of the secret society, are both a part of the society, so they are not breaking any rules.

E. A secret is passed on with the words "don't tell anyone, but..." -  Incorrect  - as Simmel mentioned that even though some one might come to know of a secret, till its spoken out, its technically, still a secret, so the man in question, is not actually speaking out a secret, he is just passing on one.

confused b/w D & E: here is my explanation:
3. From the information in this passage, the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

A. Secrets contain personal information but lies can be about anything.  Incorrect  - as secret might contain personal information, but not necessary lies. Most of the time secrets are negative information, might be true.

B. The best social scientists' work must contain no contradictions. -  Incorrect  - out of scope, not mentioned in the passage.

C. All Kpelle adults know the secrets of the secret societies. -  Incorrect  , as only Kpelle who are initiated members of the secret societies are know the secrets of the secret societies.

D. Sociologically, how people behave is at least as important as what they know. -  Correct  as mentioned in the passage: "the importance of keeping of secrets (nondisclosure) as a social act with rules and consequences carries the burden of morality rather than the personal, internal knowledge of the content of the secret."

E. It is impossible to eliminate a moral dimension from the concept of secrets. -  Incorrect , as mentioned in the beginning of the passage, that secrets are morally neutral.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. From the information in this passage, the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

Explanation

(A)  distorts Sentence 1, which describes a position that Simmel disagreed with; the author believes Simmel's approach allows  "an objective study of secrets" , so she probably agrees more with Simmel than with the older attitude toward secrets.

(B)  is extreme and out of scope.  (C)  is too extreme, since we don't know if all adults know the secrets.

(E)  is a 180: the author seems to endorse Simmel's general, non-moral approach to secrets, even if Simmel does diverge from this position in one instance.

(D)  is correct: Simmel made an important contribution to the study of secrecy by separating secrets from their content; the essence of the secret is the prohibition on disclosure. At the end of  Paragraph 2 , there is discussion of why the methodology has been so helpful for Bellman's work. Clearly, the author considers that the separation of secrets' form and content is an important insight.

Answer: D

bM22 · Answer

3. From the information in this passage, the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

A. Secrets contain personal information but lies can be about anything. Incorrect - as secret might contain personal information, but not necessary lies. Most of the time secrets are negative information, might be true.

B. The best social scientists' work must contain no contradictions. - Incorrect - out of scope, not mentioned in the passage.

C. All Kpelle adults know the secrets of the secret societies. - Incorrect , as only Kpelle who are initiated members of the secret societies are know the secrets of the secret societies.

D. Sociologically, how people behave is at least as important as what they know. - Correct as mentioned in the passage: "the importance of keeping of secrets (nondisclosure) as a social act with rules and consequences carries the burden of morality rather than the personal, internal knowledge of the content of the secret."

E. It is impossible to eliminate a moral dimension from the concept of secrets. - Incorrect, as mentioned in the beginning of the passage, that secrets are morally neutral.

udit242929 · Answer

Doubt on question 2. According to me, D is correct as the 3rd paragraph mentions "they are not allowed to speak". But since the two women are discussing here, does not follow the tradition.

Doubt on question 3: There is always a moral dimension (being morally positive, neutral or negative) with regards to secret and hence, cannot be removed from any moral dimension.

**Found this set difficult.

bM22 · Answer

Hi  udit242929 ,

W.r.t to your doubt on Q2: B is the correct answer, as the women literally claims that she knows the details of mens initiation rituals, so it doesn't matter whether the woman is member or a non-member since its clearly mentioned : "you may not speak of it ". Now for D, we could use some combinations here:
1. both the members are from same society and women overhearing is also a member:  not wrong , can discuss it.
2. both the members are from different societies and women overhearing is a member/not a member - wrong, should not have done it.
So there is a possibility that the situation doesn't violate the rules of a Kpelle secret society, implying it's not clear if option D does or doesn't, where as option B clearly does so.

W.r.t to your doubt on Q3: Firstly, as per Simmel secrets are morally neutral, as what mentioned in the last lines of the passage:"Bellman's realization shows that the mechanism of Kpelle secrecy relies on Simmel's model: the importance of keeping of secrets (nondisclosure) as a social act with rules and consequences carries the burden of morality rather than the personal, internal knowledge of the content of the secret.", implies that yes though secrets are supposed to morally neutral, some still could have some moral dimension. In option E, "impossible" is a strong word. We cannot say with certainty that it is impossible to eliminate the moral dimension from the secrets.

Hope this Helps.
Thanks.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Many sociologists who examined the phenomenon of secrecy considered

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