Collective Conscience, Collective Representation, and Social Currents: The Amish Rumspringa

Durkheim argued that society needed a sense of solidarity, that is, its individual members must feel that they are part of a single group or community, reinforcing this statement with how social life and co-operation would be impossible without social solidarity as each individual would pursue their own selfish desires instead of working together to reach an agreement on important things. In his eyes the education system helped to create solidarity by transmitting society’s culture, shared beliefs and values from one generation to the next. For example, he argues that if a country’s history was taught, a sense of shared heritage and a commitment to wider social groups would be gradually established or instilled in the minds of children.

The focus of this research paper is to examine the religious beliefs of the Amish communities. From their humble beginnings of migration into the United States from Europe, to their present day living arrangements, they have been and will continue to be a prosperous community. By shunning modern conveniences and relying only on what nature has provided, society has referred to them as the “Plain People.” Being far from ordinary in their dress and way of life separates this community from that of the modern world. They have managed to integrate into modern life while holding on to their cultural values. It is with continued commitment from its members that this community will continue to thrive. I often drive to the

Throughout the process of colonization, the Native people in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, Silas Hagerty’s documentary Dakotah 38, and Phillip Noyce’s film Rabbit-Proof Fence, all cope with the on going struggles of being colonized against their will. All three of these sources tell their own, different stories about their same struggles. In both Things Fall Apart and Dakotah 38, the colonizing people create a sense of doubt in the Natives’ cultures; whereas in Rabbit-Proof Fence, the people fight to hold their beliefs by continuing to practice their own traditions.

Amish culture is a European born group of Christians who are descendents of Mennonite church. Due to few fundamental religious differences, they separated from Mennonite regime which made them go through a series of violence causing a remarkable decrease in their population. However, after gaining ground sin United States and Canada, they are living their lives peacefully in isolation. The current culture of Amish people is a true representative of simplicity, humility, thrift, obedience,

2. Durkheim: What term does Durkheim associate with social solidarity? How do societies achieve it organically and mechanically? What did he think threatened social solidarity?

Although colonialism had large economic benefits for the European empires, the indigenous peoples of the colonies faced threats to their culture from the invading empires. For the indigenous people of Canada, the Europeans sought to assimilate them via residential schools. In Three Day Road, traumatic experiences with the wemistikoshiw changes the characters affected. For Xavier and Niska, their residential school experiences were extremely traumatic. Trauma is one of the ways in which people’s selfhood changes. As a result of these changes, their individuality, or selfhood, changes as well. The circular narrative of Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road shows the transformative effects of trauma caused by the wemistikoshiw on Xavier and Niska through the residential schools,

Roles in the Amish community are largely based on gender. Males are the leaders within the Amish community. Life is based on religion. The church is responsible for enforcing rules, conducting ceremonies like burials or baptisms. Adolescence is also a very important time for the Amish. It is a very important time as it is the last times of youthful freedom and the time before their adult baptism. Even though parents know their children are dating, it is rarely talked or encouraged at home. Amish communities allow adolescents to experience the world of non Amish. As a result there have been several court cases over the last few years where Amish youth have been convicted of drug distribution among Amish communities.

Organic solidarity arose as a result of the industrial revolution when society became more multifaceted and new ways of working emerged. This saw a decline in the collective conscience regarding shared morals and beliefs as society began to progress and expand. The division of labour that arises as a result of organic solidarity is complex and varied, resulting in people becoming more individualistic and yet also interdependent. Society’s social bonds now centred around the fact that people were dependant on each other for the good and services required in their day-to-day lives. (McDonald, 2009)

Most people seem to know very little about the Amish besides their antique clothing and horse-drawn modes of transportation. To understand the Amish better, some key concepts include the history of the Amish, their rules of discipline, and

that the film takes place in is the 18th century. There is a mixture of social class in this

Conversely, according to (Turner 23-109), Durkheim points out that religion is part and parcel of the society and that each society has religion. Emile Durkheim’s purpose was to assess the connection between particular religions in various cultures, and finding a common cause. Basically, he wanted to comprehend the three major aspects of religion; that is the empirical together with the social and the spirituality components. His definition of religion is that; it is a joining arrangement of beliefs together with practices in relation to sacred things. According to him, it is religion that establishes the contemporary society as

With modernization and industrialization, labour became increasingly specialized. Before this in the pre- modern societies, all workers did almost the same work in order to sustain themselves. These workers shared social cohesion base on similarity and commonality among themselves. This ‘mechanical solidarity’ was soon replaced by ‘organic solidarity’. With organic solidarity social cohesion was based on each individual’s dependence on every other in the society for survival. (The Emile Durkheim Archive, Solidarity)

Because Durkheim’s main interest was the ways in which society is bound together, he investigated the role and the origin of religion in various communities. He believed that a simpler society has a simpler religion. Durkheim claims that, “a religion as closely connected to a social system surpassing all others in simplicity may well be regarded as the most elementary religion we can possibly know” (Ritzer, 91). For instance Durkheim argues that totemism a religious system in which animal figures are regarded as sacred is among the simplest religious forms in the world. The totemic animal, Durkheim believed, was the original focus of religious activity because it was the emblem for a social group, “the clan” (Ritzer, 91). He thought the model for the relationships between people and the supernatural was similar to the relationship between individuals and the community. For him the function of religion was to make people willing to put the interests of society ahead of their desires. He also believed religion is an important part of society and that the functions of religion are to maintain the equilibrium in the society.

Similarly to Weber, Durkheim believed that religion plays an integral part in society. He defined religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things… beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church...” (Durkheim EF: 47). This functional definition describes what Durkheim believes what role religion plays in contemporary society: it unities it. He analyzed religion within the context of the entire society and recognized its influence on people’s thoughts and behaviors. Durkheim was interested in the communal bonds forged by participating in religious activities and stressed the importance of the communal aspect of religion.

As Durkheim said that “My work had its origins in the question of the relations of the individual to social solidarity. Why does the individual, while becoming more autonomous, depend more upon society? How can he [sic] be at one more individual?”(Durkheim 1976: 37-8) Durkheim is basically saying that as we move from a mechanical form of solidarity which has a simple occupational structure as there where fewer occupations compared to organic solidarity where with the development of society brought about more occupation’s to choose from means that there is now a more