Amish Subculture Essay

In today’s world, there are people who do not agree with the culture they live in. These people make up a group called a subculture. They have different beliefs, values or interests that separate them from those of the larger culture. A subculture that I am familiar with is the Amish. The Amish is a large subculture that live in the United States. They do not adapt to the way of living that the society they are living in has. They are a unique group in the way that they do not use electricity or technology like the modern societies today. They live a material culture by the way they dress themselves. The Amish usually chose to wear simple, dark clothing. The women usually wear plain, black dresses with white bonnets and aprons while the men

They form their way of life from the Bible. Rejecting modern technologies to go against mainstream culture is part of their way of life. Some will use cars, planes, phones or computers, but only when necessary. This group of people also lives a non-material culture as well. They speak a combination of English and German, referred to as “Pennsylvania Dutch”. They only go to school in one room until the complete the eighth grade. During this time they learn a simple education: math, reading, and the proper way to farm. These people often come from large families and are raised to make their own large family by marrying only other Amish people. Amish people often avoid talking to people from the outside communities. The only people they will interact with are other Amish people living in their rural/farming communities. A reason the Amish separate themselves from society is because they find society as a danger to their religion and culture. When an Amish kid turns sixteen years old, they have the option to experience life outside of the Amish community called Rumspringa. These children often experience a culture shock going out into the outside

People say they are considered a subculture because they are not trying to change the way of life of the larger culture. Since they do let their children experience Rumspringa and get a point of view of the outside world, you could say that they are a subculture. This could be argued by saying if their children decide to live in the outside world after Rumspringa, they will be shunned by their Amish community. That would make them a counter-culture because they are going in opposition the beliefs and habits of the larger culture. With all that being said, I would say that the Amish are a subculture. They don’t practice ethnocentrism, believing that their culture is better than any other culture, nor do they act in deviant behaviors. They are not trying to change the way of life of the larger culture; they only want to separate themselves because they have different norms, traits, values, and beliefs setting them aside from others within the same culture. The Amish are members of their subculture, but they still remain part of the larger society. They still share the same government and economy as the American society and still abide by some of the same laws. As the Amish have a different way of dress, beliefs, and language, some subcultures may have all of these characteristics or maybe only some. This just an example of cultural diversity showing how the Amish culture is