3. The Amish102
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not relics
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a different form of modernity.”
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protestant sect
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split off from the Swiss Anabaptists
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population has expanded rapidly,
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high birth rate,
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modern medicine,
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retention rate;
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5000 Amish in 1920 and about 249,000 in 2010.
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plain dress
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rejection of many of the devices of modern technology,
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not that modern technology is wicked but that some specific technologies are likely to disrupt their social system
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Amish use battery
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refuse to connect to the power grid,
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tractors but only if they have metal rather than rubber wheels
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Amish have succeeded in maintaining their own systems of rules (Ordnung)
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the threat of excommunication and shunning
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The Congregation
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congregation, typically of twenty-five to forty households;
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unwilling to build churches or meeting houses,
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the number that will fit in a large farmhouse
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marriage partners are largely, but not entirely, from the same affiliation.
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congregation has a bishop,
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serve for life
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any formal training.
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unpaid.
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church members whisper a candidate’s
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selected by lot
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When a congregation becomes too large to fit in a house it splits,
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The Ordnung
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prohibitions
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filing a law suit, serving on a jury
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use of those modern technologies
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details of what is prohibited and how strictly vary
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driving automobiles
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having a telephone
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people interacting primarily with those close to them.
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church frowns on central heating systems: ‘A space heater in the kitchen keeps the family together.
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Heating all the rooms would lead to everyone going off
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features of dress,
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Buttons may be forbidden
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bright colors
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hair styles are prescribed (uncut hair for women, hair down to the earlobe, beard and no mustache for married men).
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television,
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college,
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makeup
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jewelry,
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airplane,
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The principle
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individuals ought to be humble,
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pride,
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unwilling to be photographed.
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clear boundaries between ingroup and outgroup,
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Twice a year, all members of the congregation gather to take communion.
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What changes the ordnung is the practice of the members and the response to it by the leadership.
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existing rules without complaint,
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reduces the resulting inconvenience by permitting members to use freezers or telephones of their non-Amish neighbors.
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Enforcement
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first step is to visit him.
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expresses regret,
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If violation continues, the ministers hold a meeting at the next Sunday worship
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followed by a public hearing
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the bishop proposes the punishment to the congregation, which votes on it.
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unanimously
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“sitting” confession
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“kneeling” confession
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six week ban.
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congregation avoids social contact
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Do you believe the punishment was deserved? Do you believe your sins have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ?
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excommunication, shunning,
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not required to leave the community but is strictly limited in his interaction with other Amish.
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cannot sit at the dinner table with baptized adults
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The wife
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refrain from sexual relations with him;
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the spouse may request excommunication in order that the couple will not have to shun
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not accept a ride in the car
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business dealings with those 'under the ban.'
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Youth
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expected to help the rest of the family
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They go to school, but only through eighth grade,
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exemption from compulsory schooling laws.
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members of the congregation when, as adults, they are baptized.
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from about sixteen until twenty
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free to act in ways normally forbidden,
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Rumspringa.
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going to town to see a movie, party, work in town at jobs that would otherwise be seen as inappropriate,
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drive a car.
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an opportunity for youth to compare
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That final decision is whether to accept baptism
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four out of five, choose to take the vow.
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courting their future mates.
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nominally secret.
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refers to her as “she” rather than by name;
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becomes public knowledge when they are about to marry.
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Intermarriage is permitted among congregations that are in fellowship with each other;
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Democracy or Competitive
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decisions require the unanimous assent of the members, so one might view the congregation as a very small democracy. Alternatively, observing that the members almost always support the decision of the bishop, one might describe the congregation as a de facto dictatorship,
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If it is a dictatorship, it is a competitive dictatorship.
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free to shift
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In the case of a major split within the Amish, such as occurred in the Lancaster settlement in 1910 and again in 1966,
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Such a system can be viewed as a competitive market for legal rules,
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122 Competitive dictatorship is the mechanism we routinely use to control hotels and restaurants;
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Relations with the “English”
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the Amish resemble the Romani described in the previous chapter. One difference is their relation with non-members. Romani in most places have been subject to hostility from outsiders and themselves regarded outsiders as ignorant and unclean.
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Non-Amish may view them as quaint but for the most part without hostility and even with some admiration.
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In 1955 Social Security became mandatory for self-employed persons. The Amish objected to participating, in part on the basis that they believed they were religiously obligated to take care of each other and should not be transferring that obligation to the state,
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Many refused to pay Social Security taxes, with the result that the IRS eventually began filing liens on farm animals and other assets.
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1965, when federal legislation exempted
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The Amish, who are pacifists, have usually been granted conscientious objector status by the Selective Service System.
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engage in civilian service,
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outside the Amish culture,
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“Many boys go with good intentions but by having so much idle time, become involved with amusements, with the nurses
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Amish response was the National Amish Steering Committee,
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putting many Amish conscientious objectors on farms run by Amish or Mennonites,
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Another conflict was over schooling.
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Children normally attended school only through eighth grade, thereafter assisting their parents.
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most Amish saw as intolerable, both because their children were to be kept off the farm too long and because they would be attending schools dominated by cultural attitudes very different
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Some went to jail as a result.
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conflict began in 1937 and was finally settled in 1955 by a reinterpretation of the school code.
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Finally, in 1972, the Supreme Court, in Wisconsin v. Yoder, ruled in favor of the Amish right to have their children leave school
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building and staffing their own local schools.
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one-room schoolhouses without central heating or running water, most of the Amish teachers had only an eighth-grade education—arose
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Conflicts between the Amish and the state over Social Security, schooling, conscription and a variety of other issues were eventually dealt with in a fashion acceptable to the Amish.
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non-Amish to view the Amish in a favorable light—as
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Amish frequently have non-Amish friends and often engage in business transactions with non-Amish. Some non-Amish operate “Amish taxi services,” providing automobile or van transportation for Amish
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chapter, I suggested that in North America toleration might eventually destroy the status of the Romani as self-governing communities by making it too easy for unhappy or ostracized members to defect into the surrounding community. Along similar lines, it is arguable that the emancipation of European Jews, starting in the late eighteenth century, was responsible for the decline of the Jewish communities as effectively self-ruling polities. Yet the Amish have maintained their identity, culture,
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there are a lot of jobs in the modern world for which the willingness to work and the training produced by an apprenticeship starting at age fourteen are better qualifications than a high school diploma.
Note:come campano?
Note:come campano?
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It would be interesting to know whether, when Amish do choose to leave prior to baptism, they usually do it one by one or in couples.
Note:vita di coppia
Note:vita di coppia
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One could also argue that the close bonds of Amish families create a form of lock-in.
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Note:critica
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indoctrination
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Reading books on the Amish, all positive, all written by sympathizers,137 one is struck by how dark their picture of the outside world is.
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Perhaps the Amish are correct in believing that they have a superior lifestyle,
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6. When God is the Legislator
