The Riddle of Amish Culture

by Donald B. Kraybill

  POSTMODERN CHALLENGES

  If home is a fitting metaphor for preindustrial society and if the factory reflects the realities of the modern world, the theater, with its fleeting images of reality, perhaps best captures the postmodern ethos. In many ways the Amish are preindustrial people anchored at home. Their protest against progress has focused on the modern world with its cities, factories, and mechanical products—cameras, cars, tractors, and telephones. And as we have seen, the modern world with its mechanical ethos often decontextualized social life, yet the boundaries were rather clear. All of that has changed in the postmodern context, where lines and borders suddenly become quite fuzzy.

  These developments raise new challenges for a separatist people. In the modern era, telephone lines could actually be seen. The tie with the outside world was clear. Telephones could easily be banned from the home and restricted to a community phone shanty. In recent years, with cordless and cellular phones, the old boundaries have suddenly evaporated. Cellular phones can easily be concealed and carried anywhere, oblivious to all borders. In the past, television was an easy target for the Old Orders to censure.6 An agent of entertainment, television was easily banned by the church. However, computers are another story because they mix entertainment and business. The lines are becoming fuzzy, but the taboo on electricity nevertheless helps the Amish to hold computers at bay. However, the old lines were erased once again by battery-operated laptops that can be carried anywhere, mocking the old borders. Moreover, laptops can be easily tucked under a bed or hidden in a closet. Worse yet, they can be hooked up to the Internet and bring vile images and raunchy music into Amish barns and bedrooms.

  Thus, the old taboos that forbade public electricity and sanctioned battery-operated gadgets face new challenges in a postmodern context. In short, the old rules of the Ordnung, designed for fixed lines and mechanical boundaries, are challenged by the amoebic web of worldwide telecommunications where everything blends into everything else. How will an Old Order people fare in a postmodern world? That, of course, is the new riddle emerging in Amishland.7

  A BARGAINING UPDATE

  The Amish encounter with modernity involved a process of negotiation—with give and take on all sides. On some issues, the Amish surrendered to the demands of modernity; at other times, the agents of change conceded to the Amish. And as we have seen, compromise was often the order of the day as bargains were negotiated between the stewards of tradition and the proponents of progress. In a few cases, the Amish refused to negotiate—to place certain things on the bargaining table. Thus, in broad strokes, four outcomes can be identified: concessions by the Amish, concessions to the Amish, compromises, and nonnegotiables.

  The first outcome, concessions by the Amish, reveals aspects of their culture that have undergone modernization. Some concessions were internally induced changes that the Amish permitted by default—modern-looking homes, milking machines, washing machines, state-of-the-art tools, cash registers, and rollerblades. These changes enhance productivity, convenience, and comfort. Other changes came about because of external pressure—legal, political, economic—from the outside world. Examples include the acceptance of bulk milk tanks, lights and signals on buggies, zoning regulations, sanitary standards for breeding kennels, and school attendance through the eighth grade, to name but a few. Some concessions—indoor toilets, for example—were prompted by a desire for convenience as well as by ultimatums from milk inspectors. In any event, these adaptations represent areas in which the Amish have conceded to outside pressures for a variety of reasons. The following is a sample of the concessions made by the Amish:

  lights, signals, and reflectors on buggies bulk milk tanks

  farm management techniques large dairy herds

  artificial insemination of cows

  chemical fertilizers

  insecticides and pesticides

  nonfarm employment

  use of advertising in business

  power tools for manufacturing

  indoor bathroom facilities

  modern kitchen cabinetry

  contemporary house exteriors

  use of professional services (lawyers, physicians, etc.)

  modern medicine

  Concessions to the Amish are found on the other side of the bargaining table. Here the agents of modernity made allowances for the Amish by lax enforcement, exemptions, or special legislation. In these instances, the Amish were able to achieve their cultural objectives. The Supreme Court endorsement of Amish schooling exemplifies the most dramatic concession. Other examples include the exemption from Social Security, the waiver of the hard hat regulation, and no Sunday milk pickups on Amish farms. Capitulations to the Amish include:

  alternative service for conscientious objectors

  waiver of school certification requirements

  waiver of school building requirements

  waiver of minimum wage requirements for teachers

  Worker’s Compensation exemption

  unemployment insurance exemption

  alteration of zoning regulations (by various townships)

  horse travel on public roads

  lax enforcement of child labor laws

  This former tobacco shed, was converted to a gift shop for tourists. It tells the story of social change among the Amish of Lancaster County.

  A third outcome of the cultural bargaining sessions involves the riddles—the cultural compromises. These agreements reflect a mixture of tradition and modernity, for they typically involve some give-and-take on both sides. They symbolize a delicate balance between tradition and modernity. The distinction between the use and ownership of motor vehicles and the use of electric freezers in a neighbor’s home reflect the delicate tension. The rise of Amish businesses, halfway between farm work and factory work, is a structural compromise. Some bargains—the vocational school, for example—represent an attempt to save face for both parties. The following sampler lists some of the many cultural compromises:

  the vocational school

  selective use of telephones

  modern machinery towed by horses

  engines mounted on field equipment

  tractors used at barns and shops

  air and hydraulic power

  hiring of cars and vans

  modern gas appliances

  selective use of electricity

  electrical inverters

  nonfarm work based at home

  permanent-press fabric for traditional garb

  contemporary materials for carriage construction

  Amish-owned-and-operated businesses

  Amish-owned tourist stands

  Finally, the nonnegotiables are traditional aspects of Amish life that have remained largely untarnished by modernity. These staunch features of Amish culture have never appeared on the bargaining table. They remain in their traditional form despite the press of progress. Amish liturgy, ritual, and music, as well as the subordination of the individual to collective goals, remain intact. Limiting education, using horses, and speaking the dialect are just a few of the mainstays of Amish culture that have withstood the massive sweep of history. Some of the nonnegotiable items include:

  small church districts

  worship in homes

  worship service format

  confession, excommunication, and shunning

  traditional authority structure

  lay ministers

  mutual aid

  limited education

  horse-drawn farm equipment

  horse and carriage transportation

  traditional styles of dress

  Pennsylvania German dialect

  traditional gender roles

  large extended families

  small social units

  SOLVING THE BIG RIDDLE

  We have explored the many ways in which the Amish have coped with modernity. These excursions have solved some of the smaller riddles and unraveled clues to the big one: How is a tradition-laden group thriv
ing in the midst of modern life? Their dual strategy of resistance and negotiation has worked, for they have indeed flourished. What cultural secrets have enabled them to preserve their identity as a peculiar people for more than thirty decades? They have successfully blended numerous ingredients into their cultural recipe. One ingredient alone cannot explain their growth, and eliminating a single factor would not spoil their good fortune. A variety of factors offer clues to solving the riddle of their success.8

  A snow couple faces an uncertain future.

  1. Reproduction. Large families and strong retention have enabled the Amish to replenish their population and grow their community. Minimal use of birth control, the labor needs of farming, the use of modern medicine, and certain religious values have all contributed to sizeable families. Childhood socialization, private education, nonfarm work, and controlled interaction with the outside world have held young people within the ethnic community and encouraged its spiraling growth.

  2. Flexibility. The Amish have been willing to negotiate. They have agreed to technological concessions that have reaped handsome financial rewards. While holding firm to some taboos, they have not allowed religious practices to stifle the economic growth of their community. Indeed, their flexibility has energized their fiscal and the cultural vitality.

  3. Gelassenheit. Despite their flexibility, the Amish have insisted on the primacy of community concerns over individual rights. Excessive individualism, which would splinter the collective order, is simply not tolerated. In both childhood and adulthood, individuals remain subordinate to the moral order of the community.

  4. Ethnic organizations. The rise of Amish schools and businesses has created a circle of ethnic institutions that surrounds people throughout their lives. Many interlocking networks shelter individuals from contaminating relationships with the larger world. This web of ethnic ties provides ample social capital and reconfirms Amish views through daily interaction.

  5. Social control. Small-scale units, ethnic symbolism, traditional authority, and religious legitimacy enable the church to exercise pervasive social control. Behavior within the community as well as interaction with the outside world is regulated in harmony with cultural values. The ritual of confession and the practice of shunning are powerful forms of control that contribute to the vitality of the community.

  6. Small scale. Small-scale units, from church districts to farms and from schools to businesses, have boosted Amish success. Small social units increase interaction, enhance social control, and encourage social equality. Moreover, they preserve the individual’s identity and integration within the larger collective order.

  7. Managing technology. Part of the Amish genius is the careful management of technology. They are neither enamored by it nor afraid to tame it. Able to perceive both its detrimental and its productive consequences, they have tried to selectively use technology in ways that complement and reinforce community goals and build social capital.

  8. Restricting consciousness. By encouraging a practical education that ends with the eighth grade, the Amish are, in essence, restricting consciousness. Critical thinking that fosters independent thought and analysis would surely spur individualism and fragment the community. Filtering the flow of ideas and social ties with outsiders through private schooling has helped to preserve Amish society.

  9. Symbolizing core values. Key symbols—horse, dress, carriage, and lantern—articulate core values of simplicity, humility, submission, and separation. These everyday symbols, used over and over again, become ubiquitous reminders of Amish realities. They objectify cultural boundaries and confer an ethnic identity on individual members. The preservation of these symbols has helped to fortify the community.

  10. Managing social change. Amish survival pivots on the astute management of social change. It involves a delicate balance—allowing enough change to keep members content without destroying their core commitments. It requires selective cooperation with modernity without relinquishing cultural identity. The Amish have shown a remarkable ability to allow change while setting new symbolic boundaries to preserve the lines of separation from the world. Pulling out old stakes without planting new ones would quickly erode Amish identity.

  Faced with dramatic changes in their social environment, the Amish have survived by carefully managing their cultural fences. While holding firmly to some ancient markers, they have permitted discreet change in the shadows. In other cases, they have moved old fences to keep up with the times. Moreover, they have also staked out new borders. Whether moving old fences or erecting new ones, the secret of their success lies in their insistence on keeping fences. They have discovered that good fences are imperative to preserving a people, so they move their fences rather than discard them.

  CHAPTER 13

  Exploring Our Common Riddles

  Having an identity as a people is a real plus, but it’s not the only way to heaven.

  —Amish leader

  HOMELESS MODERNS

  The authors of a study of individualism and community in American society worry that “individualism may have grown cancerous . . . that it may be threatening the survival of freedom itself.” Is there anything we can learn, they wonder, from the wisdom of more traditional societies?1 We have been tapping the wisdom of a traditional society as we explored the riddle of Amish culture. What have we learned about the Amish, ourselves, and contemporary culture? Moreover, why are we attracted to a people that eschew many of the virtues that we applaud—diversity, inclusiveness, individualism, and consumerism? This is perhaps the most curious puzzle of all.

  Exploring the Amish riddle raises questions about our own journey in the modern world. What is the price of progress? Do modern social arrangements enhance or diminish human well-being and satisfaction? One social analyst argues that modernity has left us “homeless,” without a place in a coherent social order, as it dismantled the stable social structures that provided “homes” for people in preindustrial settings. Rapid social change, specialization, mobility, technology, and cultural pluralism have chipped away at our roots, at our identity, and at the very core of our lives, leaving our minds “homeless” as well.2 Thus, modern youth must search for a self and a social home.

  The Amish remind us that the modern story is a mixed one—a tale of both delight and despair. Beyond its dazzling technological achievements, modern life has freed us from the bondage of provincial ties, restricted opportunities, oppressive systems, and geographical limits. But human liberation has also been expensive. Although modern life has brought major strides in human rights and unprecedented possibilities for prosperity, it has also brought the blight of alienation—an evaporation of meaning.3 The erosion of meaning and the loss of belonging have contributed to our “homelessness”—the bleaker side of modernity, which in so many other ways has liberated the human spirit.

  The Amish have managed to preserve their social “home” despite the march of history. They have remained untouched by the blight of homelessness. Roots, meaning, and belonging remain intact in Amish life. Their Amish “home” looks nostalgically serene to us, but it remains entrenched in provincialism, sexism, and traditionalism. It is certainly not a modern home—or is it?

  MODERN AMISH

  The riddle of Amish culture raises intriguing questions about the meaning of modernity. What exactly does it mean to be modern—or postmodern for that matter? Are the Amish modern? Our first response to that question is surely “no.” However, some scholars have argued that although the Amish do not appear modern at first glance, they act in modern ways. They have fashioned their lives in deliberate ways in the modern world as they have selectively picked the fruits of the industrial revolution. If the freedom to make choices is the trademark of modernity, then perhaps the Amish have indeed joined the modern world.4 By deciding not to be modern—by bucking the sway of progress—they have ironically exercised choice and have acted quite modern.

  The Amish have made self-conscious collective decisions to
reject computers and accept calculators, to build their own schools, and to argue their convictions before congressional committees. They have controlled the conditions of their work, organized the equivalent of a political lobby group, and rejected car ownership.5 In these and many other ways, they have taken charge of their destiny. They have made choices. In this sense they are modern and quite different from traditional peasants, who simply take whatever fate bestows. Some Amish decisions were guided by economic concerns; others were made to uphold religious values, bolster family solidarity, sharpen separation from the world, promote social equality, and preserve social capital.6 In any event, the Amish as a group have made choices. They have decided just how modern they want to be.

  This is not the whole story, however. When we shift from the collective to the individual level, things are quite different. An Amish individual has fewer choices than a modern one. Choices regarding dress, education, and transportation are dictated by group standards. Marriage is limited to other members of the church. Occupational choice is nil compared to the astonishing array of jobs in an information society. Amish society, as experienced by the individual, is quite restrictive—quite traditional. The restriction of individual freedom among the Amish is little different, however, than the restraints placed on individuals by sports teams, monastic orders, or military organizations in the broader society.

  The Amish practice of adult baptism, in which individuals voluntarily decide to join the church, is indeed a rather modern idea. However, it is a choice that entails the decision to set aside personal rights and submit to the collective order of the church. It is not an entirely free choice because, as we have seen, Amish socialization funnels youth toward church membership. But the Amish have acted in modern ways by making self-conscious decisions to preserve their identity as a people—decisions that often restrict individual choice. To use the bargaining metaphor, Amish negotiators were unwilling to give up their collective identity in exchange for greater individual freedom.