Running head: MICRO CULTURE: AMISH PEOPLE 1

Micro culture: Amish people

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Micro culture: Amish people 2

A micro culture is a group of people who share a common set of values beliefs and behaviors

while having the same history and verbal and non-verbal system. Micro cultures can include

different groups of people who have formed a clique based on age, location, sexual preference,

disability, origin, race and occupation. Every individual within the micro culture have different

characteristics that sets them aside from the macro culture but makes them very unique.

Whenever the question of micro culture comes into discussion the Amish people comes into

mind.as far as different ethnic communities are concerned, they are the most unique people that

are in the United States. Being that the country is one of the most advanced in terms of

technology, it is very interesting to know of a group that keeps its distance from the

technological developments that the country has had over the years. The members of this society

socialize with one another and have very little interaction with the outside world. The intent of

this paper is to show the social organization of the Amish people and how they are a unique

micro culture in the American society. I have chosen the Amish people because compared to the

other micro cultures they have managed to maintain their traditions and cultural beliefs in the

face of immense pressure from the most dominant culture in the country and yet have managed

successfully to coexist within the dominant cultural milieu.

Data presentation

The Amish people are considered an isolated micro culture and they have been distancing

themselves from all the other culture and the external influences for many years. The Amish

people are about 193,000 with 70% of that population in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. These

people do not interact or use any form of technology. They believe in farming as the way of life,

using equipment’s that are drawn by horses or mules and tractors are not allowed in their farms

and fields. There way of life, they believe is best suited for the rural environment. There way of
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life can be distinguished from the other dominant cultures by way of dressing, education and

language. The Amish people also follow five basic rules that include: adult baptism, separation

of the church from state, exzcommunication from the church for those who break the law, living

life in accordance with the teaching of Christ and refusal to bear arms, take oath or hold political

office.

In today’s culture people are free to wear what they feel is good for them but this is

different for the Amish people. The old order Amish women and girls put on modest dresses that

are made from solid- colored fabric with long sleeves and a full skirt. The skirt that they wear

should not be shorter than half way between the knee and the floor. Cape and apron are used to

cover the dresses and they are fastened with straight pins. The women never cut their hair and

wear a bun at the back of their heads, they then put on a white prayer covering their hair for the

married and when single they put on a black covering. The Amish women do not put on any

form of jewelry.

Men and boys in the Amish society wear dark colored suits, straight cut with no lapels,

broad fall trousers, suspenders, solid colored shirts shoes and black socks. The men do not have

moustache and once married they can grow beards. The shirts they out on are fastened using

convectional buttons, but the coats and vests are fastened with hooks and eyes.

The way of dressing to this community is not just a costume but is a way of expressing their

faith. They feel that they are distinct from there way of clothing which encourages humility and

separation from the world.

The occupation that most Amish people desire is agriculture and it is a culture that

everyone in the community has been integrated into. The children in the Amish community are
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introduced to farming at a tender age. Agriculture is the most preferred occupation because it is

through it that they can easily distance themselves from the other cultures which they deem as

evil. The main crops that the Amish people grow include corn, hay, wheat, tobacco, soy beans

and other vegetables. They also keep livestock which comes in handy as it helps them to adopt in

their lifestyle of solitude. The ideal meal for an Amish community is oat, wheat and corn.

Today, the Amish children have to attend school up to eighth grade and are taught by

teachers whose education does not surpass the eighth grade. After the eighth grade they are

taught at home by their parents and they go to work on the family farms. The society is

considered as a form of schooling and the children are taught vocationally. Almost every Amish

boy becomes a farmer, carpenter or tradesman and girls become homemakers. From the age of

sixteen, the youth join a decision making phase, simmie period, at this point they have to make a

decision on whether they will keep or they will renounce the Amish way of life. They are

exposed to deviant behaviors and attitudes, this way the adults can select those who will fit to the

Amish society as adults and those will not fit.

Like any other religious micro culture the Amish people have strong belief in God as the

controller and the one with absolute power in the universe. They believe that they live their life

in preparation for a better life in heaven. This has resulted in many of the Amish values and

behavior to be similar to that of the mainstream American culture but the Amish practice some of

these for absolutely different reasons. By the time one’s time on earth is over they want to have

lived a righteous life and all their earthly sins settled, they have to live their everyday life in a

way that pleases God in order to meet this. They do not believe that they have a direct entrance

to heaven but notably assurance of heaven is seen as obnoxious as it smacks pride and boasting.

Humility, self-denial, submissiveness are the core values of the Amish people.
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The Amish people want the things to remain as the 17th century was making them very

slow to change. Before they can adopt to a change they choose to examine it closely and see all

the pros and cons before they can finally accept it. In case a new idea does not help them keep

their lives simple and families together they will probably reject it. This has made the Amish

people to eschew from most modern developments such as electricity, automobiles and other

conveniences that have been brought up by modern developments.

The Amish families are often large comprising of seven or more children. Children are

regarded as a blessing and since they follow they bible which asks the people to multiply and fill

the earth they prefer having a large family. The Amish family have their chores assigned

according to gender, males are often on the farm or looking after the livestock while the women

are at home and in the kitchen. The father is the head of the family as is often with many other

American cultures. In their culture divorce is not permitted and if any of the members of the

Amish culture should opt for divorce he or she will have to leave the faith, which results into

them being treated as an outcast. The person who has been divorced is also not supposed to

remarry as this is considered adultery.

The Amish, like other ethnicities have certain language adaptations. They have

adopted a kind of German dialect that is mostly referred to Pennsylvania Dutch. In their schools

the children are taught using English which is the most commonly used language in the region.

The benefits that come from this are numerous especially the fact that they rely much on the

tourism funds. Their children only attend their own school which may be public or private

(owned by Amish parents).

The Amish are trilingual, they speak a dialect of German called High German, in their

churches, the Low German that has been described as Pennsylvania Dutch. They also learn and
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speak English which they use when interacting with non-Amish people. Like any other

community the Amish people have some sayings and phrases that they have that carry meaning.

They believe that the old way of life and past traditions are superior to the conveniences of the

modern way of life and its new technologies.

At some point people from outside the community view them as an ideal community. But the

Amish people think otherwise and describe their way of life by saying “it’s not all pies and

cakes” this means that in as much as this way of life seems simple and easy, in reality the life of

an Amish is pretty difficult and takes discipline and personal strength to savor. To enforce

church order they engage in a form of excommunication called the “ban or shunning”. It involves

prohibiting attendance at church and at times it goes to the extent of prohibiting interaction with

some members of the society.

The Amish people have fun together because most of their leisure activities are shared. They

have a board game together or brothers go out hunting together is a way of spending family time

together. They also enjoy solo hobbies such as reading, crosswords and puzzles. Leisure time for

the Amish is spent with others and for this community it is a time for family and friends.

In as much as the subculture has traditional and strict gender, egalitarian relation still plays a

vital role in their beliefs and all members are treated equally without any biases. This does not

depend on who has the most prominent gender roles in the society. Even though men are the

authoritative figure, it doesn’t mean that they get the larger portion during harvest and this

implies how equality is highly regarded in their society. From a small age the Amish children are

groomed to be hard working and this way they are shut from the modernized world which they

believe is composed of cultures that will ruin their morals.

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