The Social Construction of the Amish Community
Sociology 1101
The Amish Community, an Example of Social Construction
The Amish culture qualifies as an example of social construction because it is a belief that has important consequences for a large group of people. The people of the Amish community have specific rules they must follow. They believe that the outside culture has a morally polluting effect and that it promotes pride, greed, immorality and materialism. Some of the Amish beliefs include the concept that God will judge them on how well they have obeyed the church rules during their lifetime and that contact with the “outside world” makes it harder to obey their rules. This is the reason for their extreme isolation. Even though the Amish culture believes that the “outside world” has a polluting effect on them and their children, there is a time within the Amish community that the parents throughout the community allow their children to participate in events and activities that they usually wouldn’t be allowed to participate in. This time is referred to as Rumspringa. Rumspringa is also referred to as “running around” This is the term used to describe the period of adolescence Amish experience starting at around the age of sixteen. The parents of the children who choose to participate in this opportunity feel that their children cannot be shunned from the Amish community because they are not yet baptized and they are not yet under the authority of the church. Rumspringa helps the young adults to choose whether they want to join the church or not. The young adults can choose to join a youth group on the weekends usually. These different youth groups have different activities or events they participate in. There are two main groups; one considered the slower or plainer group and the other considered the faster group. The slower groups participates in activities such as volleyball games, and singing groups and are even sometimes supervised by adults while the faster group participates in parties and
The Amish Community, an Example of Social Construction
The Amish culture qualifies as an example of social construction because it is a belief that has important consequences for a large group of people. The people of the Amish community have specific rules they must follow. They believe that the outside culture has a morally polluting effect and that it promotes pride, greed, immorality and materialism. Some of the Amish beliefs include the concept that God will judge them on how well they have obeyed the church rules during their lifetime and that contact with the “outside world” makes it harder to obey their rules. This is the reason for their extreme isolation. Even though the Amish culture believes that the “outside world” has a polluting effect on them and their children, there is a time within the Amish community that the parents throughout the community allow their children to participate in events and activities that they usually wouldn’t be allowed to participate in. This time is referred to as Rumspringa. Rumspringa is also referred to as “running around” This is the term used to describe the period of adolescence Amish experience starting at around the age of sixteen. The parents of the children who choose to participate in this opportunity feel that their children cannot be shunned from the Amish community because they are not yet baptized and they are not yet under the authority of the church. Rumspringa helps the young adults to choose whether they want to join the church or not. The young adults can choose to join a youth group on the weekends usually. These different youth groups have different activities or events they participate in. There are two main groups; one considered the slower or plainer group and the other considered the faster group. The slower groups participates in activities such as volleyball games, and singing groups and are even sometimes supervised by adults while the faster group participates in parties and