Amish Code Of Behavior

The old order Amish have maintained their lifestyle through their unwritten code of behavior called the Ordnung. The Ordnung is decided annually by a community’s elders, and different Amish communities have a different code of behavior. Their most effective way of punishment utilized by the national Amish community’s code of behavior is through shunning disobedient members. The Amish have their own language, called Pennsylvania Dutch, that is exclusively spoken by the old order Amish. The men in the religious community have to wear simple clothing; which includes broad-brimmed black hats, solid colored shirts, suspenders, and beard growth after marriage. The women in the community must wear long dresses, bonnets, capes over their shoulder,
and can never cut their hair. The typical family in the Amish community is quite large. The size of the family usually ranges from 7 to 10 children, and this is explained due to the family being the Amish social building block. Most of the time, several generations of family live in the same home. Financially, the Amish pay taxes like any other citizen in the United States.
But, they refuse to accept social security benefits and welfare checks because they pride themselves on being completely self-sufficient. Financial protection and insurance comes from the community itself. Organizations within the community such as the Amish Aid Society was formed to protect families financials in times of disaster. The Amish will never be seen driving cars, as they can only use bicycles and horse-drawn buggies as their main mode of transportation. Interestingly enough, it is actually not prohibited to accept a ride from someone outside of the faith in the car. Many Amish hire drivers or get transported to important meetings. After the 8th grade, the typical Amish boy or girl will have dropped out of school, receive an occupation, and learn the community’s traditional crafts. In most communities the Amish refused to use electricity in any aspect of their lives, but recently the Amish must use electricity to prolong their economic livelihood through agriculture. In the past, the Amish have been known as skilled agriculturalists without using modern farming technology. For example, they use horses to plow the field instead of modern
machinery. Their utilization of the tightknit community allows for most members of their society to be completely devoted to working the field. Due to the nature of their religion and their agricultural practices, the Amish are often defined as a religious sect with extreme values. Given that the community has all of these extreme rules and regulations, 4 out of 5 Amish born within the community still continue the faith into adulthood.Even with all of the regulations within their society, they are surprisingly still a thriving member of the American Religious Market.

Religion in Modern society can be described as a competitive market that thrives on the demand from American believers.
Since the market is easy to enter and does not contain intellectual property rights, believers essentially have a free choice of what religious denomination they participate in. As well as the decision of how much religious participation that the individual believer decides to contribute to the larger group. On top of all of this, a believer can freely change their denomination over time. Despite all of this, the Amish community has defied this reasoning for over 200 years in the United States. Their farming practices and lack of technology hinder every day life for the average Amish community member. Many of the fruits of technological advancement is completely ignored by this sheltered community. Instead of progressing with the times, this community has chosen to ignore the outside world and maintain their traditional values. The Amish live without the internet, cell phones, and cars but still managed to gain over 100,000 members over the past 10 years. According to Laurence R. Iannacconne not only are extreme religious sects enduring technological and societal advancement, but they are growing. The explanation lies in the importance of the collective nature in the Amish community. The Immanent model described by Iannaccone assumes that the religious satisfaction of an individual depends on both the input of the individual and the inputs of others. This
can be applied to the Amish through their strict guidelines that the Ordnung bestows upon them. The community as a whole collectively follows the rules of the community by dressing the same, talking in their own language, using no technology, and participating in community events.