Sometimes when someone is in distress they look for someone that can help. That person can be a friend or sibling. In some cases those bonds can grow further reaching many people, and they can eventually form groups, organizations, and fraternities. A fraternity is a group of individuals with common professions and/or interests that look to uplift their community. With the rising of violent crimes, the accessibility of people through social media, and having the world in the palm of an individual's hands by owning a smart phone it is refreshing to have a small sector of people devoted to the concerns of each other. In many cases these individuals in these groups or organizations are business owners, politicians, physicians and etc. These groups often help their member's network for job opportunities, investment ventures, and the well-being of the organizations family members. Some organizations have developed their own way of communicating with other members in their group and with their community through specific phrases and certain vocabulary for their group. One prominent fraternity that was established hundreds of years ago is the Free Masons. The oldest fraternity known to man has established a prominent impression on the society. Through this essay readers will learn what a discourse community consist of, reveal some of the ways the Free Mason fraternity is a discourse community through the lexis, and how they communicate with each other through an interview from Orlando Owens a member of the Free Mason fraternity.
How do some individuals define a community? Some may say it is a group or groups of individuals dwelling together. Merriam-Webster defines a community as, "social groups of any sizes whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have common cultural and historical heritages." While reading an excerpt from Writing About Writing, John Swales explains how a group, organization, and fraternity meet certain criteria to form a discourse community.