American Culture Through Amish Eyes: Perspectives of an Anarchist Protest Movement

Abstract

America's Old Order Amish have managed to avoid some of the most serious social problems facing the larger sociery. This paper identifies the countercrlltural and anarchistic elements ofAmish society and outlines its resemblance to sodalmovements and to other separationist/pacifist societies ofthe past. .Also explored are Amish attitudes toward materialism, technology, art, deviant behavior and non-violent resistance and how these attitudes shape internal sodaI behaviors as weD as interactions with outsiders. Finally, brief consideration "is given to the question of how the study of the Amish might inform students of the larger culture and other interested outsiders.