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Cultural differences of the amish
The importance of spiritual growth
The importance of spiritual growth
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Collective Conscience, Collective Representations, and Social Currents: The events that the young Amish will be apart of during Rumspringa appear to be similar to what an English person, like you or I, is showed to during high school and college. The problem with Rumspringa is that the Amish are very unexposed to our sort of lifestyle their entire lives, that when they finally get to experience it for themselves, they tend to have over exposure. There are two categories of solidarity that we have discussed throughout class, one being mechanical, and the other organic. Mechanical Solidarity: A mechanical solidarity is created on similarity among individuals. The importance is placed on values and beliefs, similar backgrounds and religion. This occurs in small, traditional close-knit societies where social interaction is close and intimate. The division of labor is lesser and individuals within the society do not have specific duties but rather created on traditional expectations of those within the society. The Amish is an example of mechanical solidarity and this can be seen from the Amish societies divisions of labor. The look of the Amish society stands out but gives them similarity among themselves. Their choice of clothing to wear is rooted in their views of modesty and being rather simple. The division in labor is also structured along gender. The men partake in physical labor while the women concentrate on cooking and domestic labor. Living within this closed society gives Amish individuals a feel of collective consciousness where their traditional customs and religion show a main part in their capability to function altogether as a whole. Organic Solidarity: An organic solidarity is created on changes of individuals ... ... middle of paper ... ...their desires and wants constrained in ways that allow them to participate in the collective?” Rumspringa is the time to get any feelings of what ifs out of their systems before deciding to go back to the church and the Amish ways of life. The main disadvantage that Amish children realized within the Amish society is that the choice to be baptized is stated by age despite the capability to make one’s own choices before one gets to the traditional age. This suggests that the rebellious children have no other options than to return to their Amish society, family and church until they get to the stated age. Thus the children are concerned since it is thought that when one dies before being baptized, automatically it is assumed that the individual is either lost or goes to hell. Weaknesses in individual perception, Amish society should not dictate what individuals do.
The Amish are very dedicated to their faith and believe they should live their life like their savior. They do not believe in modern conveniences such as automobiles, electricity, and any other modern technology. “The Amish are also known as the “plain people” because they tend to separate themselves from the modern world” (Rearick, 2003).
Too often, society is too distracted oohing and aahing over the little boys’ miniature overalls and straw hats or the little girls’ dainty bonnet to question the Amish community. Regardless if it are those living around them or tourists, their lifestyles rarely produce criticism. Whether it is deception or no true issue exists is up for interpretation and debate. Regardless when analyzation begins, the Amish communities’ views on education are often overlooked. To try to shed light on literacy and schooling amongst Amish children, educator Andrea Fishman reveals her research in her article “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish”. Within this piece, Fishman preforms
Our spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding school is an 80 minute documentary that details the mental and physical abuse that the Native Americans endured during the Indian Boarding school experience from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. In the beginning going to school for Indian children meant listening to stories told by tribal elders, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and storytellers. These tales past down from generation to generation were metaphors for the life experience and their relationships to plants and animals. Native children from birth were also taught that their appearance is a representation of pure thoughts and spiritual status of an individual.
By the time the colonists had settled into their new land they had established some order such as small governments to keep the colonies in line. The ocean separating England and the colonies made it difficult though for England to guide the colonists successfully the way they had wanted. The main thing the British tried was implementing taxes, but they also went so far as letting the colonies on their own for awhile and using military to keep them in place. On the other hand, the colonists saw that the British were stalling their attempts at self-governing so they worked together to disregard any British policies. By the eve of the Revolution, colonists had developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans that was brought about by the British parliament. Exasperated by British efforts to hinder their growing self-reliance, colonists began pushing them away by doing various things such as rioting, boycotting, or voicing their opinions on paper.
The concept of rumspringa is extremely controversial and has many aspects that seem troubling to outsiders. There are several different issues with the tradition of rumspringa. First of all, this time can be very dangerous to the teens. Another issue is parents not intervening in their child’s life at all, even if they are doing highly illegal and dangerous activities. Lastly, there is the worry that their actions during rumspringa will haunt them after they have jointed the Amish church and committed their lives.
In the Amish world, children are brought up following all Amish family traditions and church traditions. At age 16, Amish teenagers do away with these traditions for several months to several years and go out into the “English”, modern world to experience what life is like outside of the Amish community in a tradition called Rumspringa. The hopes of Rumspringa are that Amish teenagers will see the evil in the modern world and turn back to the Amish church and community and will choose to be baptized into the faith. At this time, the parents of these Amish teenagers choose to overlook the new habits and actions of their children. The Amish parents want the best for their children and feel as though allowing them to party and live wild for a time away from them is the best way to teach their children. The parents have the approach to be hands off and ignore the behavior during Rumspringa. This is not an effective manner of parenting for these teenagers at such an influential time in their lives.
Polletta, Francesca and James Jasper. “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27.1 (2001): 283–305. Print.
Watching the Amish riding their horse drawn carriages through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, you catch a glimpse of how life would have been 150 years ago. The Amish, without their electricity, cars, and television appear to be a static culture, never changing. This, however, is just an illusion. In fact, the Amish are a dynamic culture which is, through market forces and other means, continually interacting with the enormously tempting culture of America. So, one might be led to wonder how a culture like the Amish, one that seems so anachronistic, has not only survived but has grown and flourished while surrounded by a culture that would seem to be so detrimental to its basic ideals. The Amish, through biological reproduction, resistance to outside culture, compromise, and a strong ethnic symbolism have managed to stave off a culture that waits to engulf them. Why study the Amish? One answer would be, of course, to learn about their seemingly pure cooperative society and value system (called Ordung). From this, one may hope to learn how to better America's problem of individualism and lack of moral or ethical beliefs. However, there is another reason to study the Amish. Because the Amish have remained such a large and distinct culture from our own, they provide an opportunity to study the effects of cultural transmission, resistance, and change, as well as the results of strong symbolism in maintaining ethnic and cultural isolation.
During the nineteenth century, the government opened up more land for settlement, and pioneers began to make their way across America to “empty” prairies in the Midwest. These “empty” lands were not actually empty—they contained many different tribes of American Indians—but the white Americans saw this as an opportunity for cheap land and a new, better life. The pioneers lived among the American Indians, but it was not a harmonious relationship. Laura Ingalls Wilder in her Little House series talked about her parents’ attitudes toward the Osage. Most of the time, her parents either made fun of the Osage people or feared them, which, in turn, instilled fear and stereotypes in Laura and her sisters. Such was the case for the majority of
Wealth, security, and freedom of the Amish are clearly demonstrated through the strict avoidance of any modern technology that can be used for a typical nowadays work. The Amish greatly value family dynamics and the importance of maintaining a close- knit community. Therefore, the use of modern technology for farming fields, traveling long distances, and even entertainment purposes is seen as a sign of weakness among the families. The Amish do not acknowledge electricity, tractors, automobiles, televisions, cell phones, or any form of technology. They believe in working hard to achieve their tasks, even if it is a simple task which could be as simple as cleaning a house or t...
In most American families parents are overjoyed as a result of the happiness and success of their teenage children. Across America teenager are enjoying their “rite of passage”, such as friends, after school activities, sports, vacations with their families and their first car. At the same time, little is known of the extreme poverty and despondency existing within the reservations of the Native American communities. Many Native American families are still struggling with the pain and anguish their ancestors suffered during the ethnic cleansing and forced relocation of the 1800’s such as the Trail of Tears.
All students should take notice and interest in cultural diversity. There are numerous different cultures in America. One in particular is the Amish culture, which I would like to familiarize you with.
The first basic issue confronting all societies is to define the nature of the relation between the individual and the group. This dimension is frequently labeled as individualism versus collectivism (Hofstede, 1980, 1991). In cultures at the Conservatism pole of the dimension, Schwartz (1994) noted that the person is viewed as embedded in a collectivity, finding meaning in life largely through social relationships, through identifying with the group and participating in its shared way of life. Schwartz (1999) noted that this value type emphasizes maintenance of the status quo, propriety, and restraint of actions or inclinations that might disrupt the solitary group or the traditional order. Exemplary specific values are social order, respect
Through the onset of peer pressure and family relations we see how these influence individuals into making certain decisions and acting in a way that will suit others. Meditations explains how even though it would be normal to want to follow our in-group that we must be able to break free of those confines that tie us down and become our own independent persons. It goes on to explain in a broad sense of group dynamics how our social norms and relations can cause individuals to sway in their own personal thoughts and feelings. An example of this would be discussing political preferences among friends and family. A person could change their own views based on what their family believes in and tells them about certain parties as they are growing up; this sways them to assimilate into group beliefs despite their own in order to blend in without any complications. This concept is not limited to family, but more common amongst peer groups and friendships. A good example would be when one wants to smoothly integrate into their desired group. Said group could have a political standpoint of conservatism while the individual’s personal views are liberal. To merge into the faction, they could state that their political party is the same as their peers, thus eventually altering their claims to being conservative. In “The Need to Belong can Motivate
Two of the four coordinates that are completely opposite from each other on this theoretical framework include “Individual” and “Collective.” According to classical theory, “Individual are the patterns of social life which are seen as emerging from ongoing interaction, and Collective are the patterns of social life which are seen as the product of existing structural arrangements” (Appelrouth...