Editing Shibboleth (section)

==Modern use==
In modern [[English language|English]], a shibboleth can have a [[Sociology|sociological]] meaning, referring to any [[In-group and out-group|in-group]] word or phrase that can distinguish members from outsiders.<ref name=McNamara /> It is also sometimes used in a broader sense to mean [[jargon]], the proper use of which identifies speakers as members of a particular group or [[subculture]].

In [[information technology]], [[Shibboleth (software)|Shibboleth]] is a community-wide password that enables members of that community to access an online resource without revealing their individual identities. The origin server can vouch for the identity of the individual user without giving the target server any further identifying information.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Technically Speaking: Can You Say "Shibboleth"?|last=Dorman|first=David|date=October 2002|volume=33|issue=9|journal=American Libraries|pages=86–7|publisher=American Library Association|jstor=25648483}}.</ref> Hence the individual user does not know the password that is actually employed – it is generated internally by the origin server – and so cannot betray it to outsiders.

The term can also be used pejoratively, suggesting that the original meaning of a symbol has in effect been lost and that the symbol now serves merely to identify allegiance, being described as "nothing more than a shibboleth". In 1956, [[economics|economist]] [[Paul Samuelson]] applied the term ''shibboleth'' in works including ''[[Foundations of Economic Analysis]]'' to mean an idea for which "the means becomes the end, and the letter of the law takes precedence over the spirit."<ref>{{cite book |last=Samuelson |first=Paul A. |author-link=Paul Samuelson |title=Natural Resources, Uncertainty, and General Equilibrium Systems: Essays in Memory of Rafael Lusky |publisher=Academic Press |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-12-106150-0 |location=New York |page=55 |chapter=When it is ethically optimal to allocate money income in stipulated fractional shares |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UKeJEc46R9AC&q=shibboleth+letter+law&pg=PR5-IA2}}</ref> Samuelson admitted that ''shibboleth'' is an imperfect term for this phenomenon.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |date=February 1956 |title=Social Indifference Curves |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XQQFn8Vk470C&q=paul%20samuelson%20shibboleth&pg=PA1073 |last=Samuelson |first=Paul A. |author-link=Paul Samuelson  |doi=10.2307/1884510 |jstor=1884510 |isbn=9780262190220 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>