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They are fraternal organizations, as are fraternities are sororites ... it's like they're all rectangles, and squares are a subset of that, squares being fraternities and sororities. OK, bad metaphor.
All fraternal organizations have *most* of the following characteristics, although individual orgs may not have them all:
1) Selective membership (voted on by current membership)
2) Secrets
3) A social purpose
4) A philanthropic cause
5) Local chapters, groups, aeries, etc. within a larger organization
6) Frequently single-sex
From there, you can break fraternal orgs down into other types:
Obviously, college fraternities are those where the vast majority of membership induction takes place in college, and where membership after college is generally only open to those with degrees. (NPHC groups rely less heavily on college induction.) Induction is different for collegiates vs. graduates.
Fraternities, whether collegiate or not, tend to have the following characteristics - and of course there are exceptions here too:
1) Greek-letter names
2) Badge, flower, crest, pin
3) They call themselves a fraternity or sorority
4) Few auxillery groups attached to them
5) Membership generally limited to one of a type. IE, you can join one NPC group, and I *think* it would be looked on funny if you wanted to join, say, Tri-Kappa AND Psi-Ote.
Benevolent orgs are those that in addition to providing social benefits for their members frequently provide pensions, insurance for the family, etc. Many of these started off being for a particular career - the Eagles were founded right here in Seattle by men of the theater. The Foresters, for example, aren't necessarily all foresters today. These groups are generally men-only and have a ladies' auxillery.
Fraternal orgs that claim a long and illustrious history, such as the Masons and KoC. Their origins are disputed, but they developed separately from the fraternity movement, which if anything borrowed from them. These groups have more auxilleries that anything else - if you ever want to confuse yourself, try to memorize all the degrees of Masonry plus all the auxilleries. Your head will spin with the effort.
Then there are groups that don't really fit into any catergory - Junior League is strongly service oriented but is very socially important in certain regions. Rotary is straightforwardly business. Then there are ethnic heritage groups (Sons of Norway) and orgs like DAR where lineage is important. Then there are the various veterans orgs, which are a category of their own.
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Now that I've bored everyone silly, I'm going to shut up and go see the doctor!
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Alpha Xi Delta
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