Understanding the Amish

It turns out the Amish, who outwardly seem so different from the rest of us, may not be so different after all. This article in the Wall Street Journal last week describes the Amish community in northern Indiana that partially joined modern society by taking jobs in the region's RV factories during the boom years in the middle of this decade. The result? For many, an increase in debt; a weakening of the traditional community ties, replaced by a more assertive individualism; and conspicuous consumption. (I would love to see one of the horse-drawn buggies with LED lights--who would have thought there would be a way to "pimp my buggy"?)

I think the article reflects more on mainstream American culture than on Amish culture. Take adults who have been raised outside our culture and drop them in, and what happens? The urge to spend takes hold almost immediately. Spending more then causes selfishness, as the list of wants exceeds the available cash, and so generosity and community-mindedness suffers; plus, now that work is so necessary to earn the money to buy the stuff, time is hoarded for selfish pursuits instead of community pursuits. Finally, the need to show the world this new bargain one has made (trading work for money and stuff) leads to pride and the purchase of "positional goods"--stuff that displays one's new status to others. The process is very clear in the case of the Amish, because they started outside of the culture and were thrown into it. But what about those of us who were raised in it?

It is very, very difficult to break the habits that your cultural upbringing has left you with. We are subject to the same cultural pressures: the focus on material things as a sign of success; the pressure to buy stuff to display our economic status; the push to work harder and longer to be able to afford more of the stuff to impress the people around us. To us this is "normal", and thus very, very hard to break out of. Unlike the Amish, we have no other community to go back to, no community organized under principles of collective living and modest consumption. If we so choose, we have to go it almost alone in living counter to the prevailing ethos. That makes it very, very difficult to adopt a lifestyle that avoids overwrought consumption.