Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, and Covert Collectives

Many of today’s organizations “live in public”; they devote extensive resources to branding, catching the public eye, and capitalizing on the age of transparency. But, at the same time, a growing number of companies and other collectives are flying under the radar, concealing their identities and activities.

This book offers a framework for thinking about how organizations and their members communicate identity to relevant audiences. Considering the degree to which organizations reveal themselves, the extent to which members express their identification with the organization, and whether the audience is public or local, author Craig R. Scott describes collectives as residing in “regions” that range from transparent to shaded, from shadowed to dark. Taking a closer look at groups like EarthFirst!, the Church of Scientology, Alcoholics Anonymous, the KKK, Skull and Bones, U.S. special mission units, men’s bathhouses, and various terrorist organizations, this book draws attention to shaded, shadowed, and dark collectives as important organizations in the contemporary landscape.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. To Name or Not to Name, That Is the Question
Chapter 2. Unmasking What We Know about Hidden Organizations
Chapter 3. Revealing Research on Organizational Identity and Related Issues
Chapter 4. Unveiling a New Framework of Organizations and Organizational Regions
Chapter 5. Taking It to the Extremes: Transparent and Dark Organizations
Chapter 6. Hiding Only a Little: Shaded Organizations
Chapter 7. Under the Radar and Out of the Spotlight: Shadowed Organizations
Chapter 8. Classified Conclusions, Implications of Invisibility, and a Faceless Future