Part One: The Family & Work
It has been said that the family in America’s early years was "the factory of the time." The family was more self-sufficient, and one’s "co-workers" were family members. A self-sufficient family or community need not go outside itself. It can remain isolated and guard itself against factors leading to disunity and disruption. Yet such isolation is virtually impossible in today’s world, as even the Amish are fully aware.
The Amish live among non-Amish in modern rural America. While they are more isolated in some areas, other communities interact daily with the modern world, perhaps nowhere as dramatically as in Lancaster. Here the Amish come into contact not only with their "English" neighbors, but directly and indirectly with millions of visitors from the United States and around the world.
To the Amish, the idea of separation from the modern world and non-conformity to its ways are stated clearly in the New Testament---"Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed." The Amish have adopted some facets of modern technology and shunned others. The fact that the Amish population is growing, and that the majority of their young people decide to join the faith through adult baptism, testifies that there are important values in this culture. This economic function, the family and its members working as a unit within the supporting Amish community, creates a strong bond and gives each worker a clear and vital " place" through the work he performs.
Most Amish are farmers, although in some areas of the USA barely half remain so. With an average of seven or eight children, each member plays a part in the family’s economic survival. It is likely that children are very conscious of this. Dr. John Hostetler, in his book Amish Society, notes the importance of all this when he says...
"Like most parents in American society, the Amish recognize the teen period as critical. The Amish family needs the help of its teen-age child more than the typical American family, and the child feels the family’s need of him. the young person who works on the farm can understand and feel the contribution he is making to his family."
Indeed, Amish formal schooling stops at the eighth grade. From then on children are at home or on the farm, learning the tasks they will have as adults by working with their parents. The family and home become the place of "on the job" training.
On a farm, your work directly affects you and your family. You are a member of this company (the family), and you have your job responsibilities. In simple terms, the cows have to be fed and milked so that food and shelter can be provided for the family. Your paycheck comes daily in the form of food, clothing, shelter, and affection.
Children see their parents working hard every day and children want to help. Children often try tasks they are too young to perform, or mimic their parents when they play. I once saw a four-year-old Amish boy cry when he could not go along and help father in the field. (When I was a boy, I would sometimes try to invent ways of getting out of my chores.)
At times, individual families become caught up in other "family economies", as when three farmers get together to help each other fill their respective silos. In such ways, the family and community bonds are further strengthened.
By the 1970’s, making a living from farming was becoming more difficult. The increasing Amish population, coupled with decreasing farmland and higher prices, made getting started difficult or impossible for some. Others found the payments on the farm, building, loans, mortgages, and interest a hardship.
One alternative was to move to another area where farmland was available and cheaper. Others looked at ways to supplement their income by having a family member work out for others, sometimes on a carpentry crew, as a farmhand, or as a cleaning lady in homes of non-Amish. But of most concern to the Amish was the possible necessity of having to work in a factory, and whether or not such work really was necessary.
Part Two: Work at Home vs. Factory
In the Amish community of Lancaster, the "lunch pail" problem of the 1970’s became an important issue. As farmland became scarce and expensive, more and more men were working in factories, taking their lunches off to their jobs away from home.
In the July, 1972 issue of the Amish monthly magazine Family Life, there was an article concerning farm versus factory. It told the story of a man who worked for a while in a factory, but decided to try to buy a farm, even if it would cause him financial difficulties. On the negative side of factory work, he saw the following:
- Working with worldly people who practice smoking, swearing, telling dirty stories, etc.
- Men and women working together under such conditions.
- Fathers away from home.
- Too much money available.
The author then came up with some alternatives to factory work...
- Spread out. In most of our communities farms are available on the edge of the communities at a much cheaper price.
- If you want to buy a farm some day, then begin now to live simple and save money. Don’t try to keep up with the Jones’s (the Beilers, or the Lapps).
- In many communities there is a good market for truck crops or specialty crops. This could provide profitable employment for the children and can be done on a small acreage.
- There are always older people who are well established financially. Why not help the young people get started instead of putting money in the bank?
Finally, the Amish writer spells out the importance he sees in remaining a farmer...
"The high cost of living, or the cost of 'living high,' makes it difficult to start farming today and to keep on farming. As far back as we can go in the history of our people, we find they were an agricultural people. To change this now would be taking a serious step."
When work involves going outside the family and community for economic survival, it can drive a wedge into the family which can cause disruption by getting economically involved with the outside world.
When many of the Amish church districts in Lancaster County permitted the use of machinery powered by diesel, hydraulic, or compressed air systems, many small Amish businesses were set up at home, forming another option for the family that could not farm. Dr. Donald Kraybill in his book The Riddle of Amish Culture quoted an Amishman as saying that these small family shops and businesses were...
"a sharp turn towards home, that is back to an Anabaptist culture. Many of these shops were erected on the farm or adjacent to it. They provide the off-farm worker a job at home with or near his family, self-dependent, self-supporting, making, repairing, or selling a product that he knows is useful, one which he has a right to be proud of."
Yet, as Kraybill makes clear, "businessmen and bishops alike fear that, in the long run, prosperity could ruin the church." Some larger Amish enterprises have annual sales of over one million dollars. This kind of growth can be dangerous. Even a family farm can turn into a large and complicated business venture, as with many non-Amish farm operations of hundreds of acres.
This concern of "getting too big" came up earlier in the century with the farmers themselves, and the arrival of the tractor. While some Amish in Lancaster bought and used the early tractors, these machines were banned in 1923. In time tractors were allowed to power other stationary farm machinery, and horses could pull diesel-operated farm machinery in the fields. There was a fear that normal use of "tractors will lead to cars."
The Amish saw in the car a threat to the community’s existence. Yet the use of a car for trips, or of the bus to go to town, is allowed. As Kraybill noted, "The Amish believe that by turning the use of cars over to individuals, they would quicken the pace of their life, erase geographical limits, weaken social control, and eventually ruin their community."
Two of the strengths of the Amish community are its ability to accept that it is not self-sufficient, and its ability to establish boundaries for dealing with the outside world. The Lancaster Amish found that the constant stream of tourists provided a steady market for their cottage industries, which in turn allowed many of them to make a living without leaving the homestead. While some writers have decried this, others have argued that tourism and cottage industries may have indirectly strengthened the Amish community in Lancaster. How successfully the Amish adapt to the changing economic situation will be a matter of great importance as they move with us into the 21st century.
Part Three: Work & Sex Roles in the Family
One role of the traditional family was to give prestige and status to it members. A person was "less an individual and more a member of a family." Each member of the family had a job, a position, a status.
Chores are fairly clearly divided by sexual role in the Amish home. The man usually works on the farm, with the wife helping from time to time, if needed. The wife does the cooking, washing, cleaning, etc. Children grow up identifying with the parent of their sex. Boys tag along behind father, and girls stay indoors to help mother. There are, of course, many exceptions to this, but father is to be the head of the household.
In an Amish family I knew, father nodded his head at the beginning of a meal for silent prayer, and shuffled his feet or cleared his throat to end the period of prayer. He was mainly in charge of financial matters and writing checks. His wife would consult with him before making certain purchases, perhaps asking his opinion concerning buying a particular item. When there was disagreement, a point was reached where she would fall silent, and the final decision was made by the husband.
An article in the Amish monthly magazine Family Life discussed this matter of the man as head of the home, and the woman being subordinate to the man...
"Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman. One of the greatest needs of our time is men who will assume the responsibility which God has placed on their shoulders. Not to accept that responsibility is to lie down on the job, to fail God’s will."
Concerning the issue of equality of the sexes, another writer noted that...
"It’s not a question at all of whether or not women are as good as men. The Bible teaches very clearly that men and women are equal. But being equal in worth does not mean being the same in calling. Each has been assigned separate and distinct roles by the great Creator. If marriage were to be 50-50, that would result in two people being the head of the home. Not only is that not Scriptural, it isn’t even workable."
Another writer, however, stresses that...
"Subordinate does not mean inferior... The citizens shall be subordinate to the government, but this does not make them inferior citizens. The lay members should be subordinate to the leaders of the church, but this does not make inferior people out of them. Even the most brilliant pupil should be subordinate to his teacher, but this does not make him inferior. The same thing applies in the home between children and their parents, and between man and wife."
There are problem marriages, of course. Yet most Amish women seem to accept their position, although at times housework is boring and tiresome.
One Amish woman noted that she and her husband were opposites. She got up bright and early, but he was slow to arise. He had no concept of time and was forgetful, but each night she planned what she would do the following day. Her final comments are not uncommon ones by women writing to the editors...
"By now you’re wondering how we can stand each other. It took a while, but one thing we have always been able to do is talk things over, and that’s one of the keys---communication. I remember well the time he told me, 'How would you like to be like I am?' 'Impossible,' I answered. He then explained that that is what I am trying to do to him, trying to make him like I am, and he said that’s impossible, too... I began to realize we can complement each other... It is very essential to give in to each other, but it is not necessary to lose one’s individual identity."
In the 1970’s, when communes appeared in many parts of the USA, some "discoveries" were made by modern non-Amish in their attempt to return to nature and be self-sufficient. A visitor to a farm commune in California wrote that...
"It becomes clear why, in a community like this, sex roles are so well-defined and satisfying. When men actually do heavy physical labor like chopping trees, baling hay, and digging irrigation ditches, it feels very fulfilling for the women to tend the cabin, grind wheat, put up fruit, sew or knit. With no supermarkets and banks, there is a direct relationship between work and survival. It is thus possible for even the most repetitious jobs such as washing dishes or sawing wood to be spiritually rewarding."
Finally, concerning the elderly, Dr. John Hostetler notes in his book Amish Society that there are many advantages to growing old in Amish culture, such as prestige, economic security, and social and family continuity. "There is little problem with loneliness. Older people are assured of meaningful social participation."
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