Amish Industrial Society

1740 Words7 Pages
Essay Questions 1. There are several differences between the industrial society and the postindustrial society. Within the industrial society, new types of technology were introduced in order to mass produce goods needed for the economy to grow. Steam transportation was used in order to send their goods to further locals than ever before. They utilized fossil fuel to increase the rate and scale of their production lines, even though over time this would eventually decrease the need for human labor. Through the processes of globalization and automation, the value and importance to the economy of the assembly line worker declined. These workers needed to work, so they started to move toward the service industry thus ushering…show more content…
The Amish have coped with this situation in many ways. They have subdivided their farmland in order to grow diverse crops, increased their livestock and migrated to other states where farmland is cheaper and a majority of families work in cottage shops or rural factories in various trades. The rise of cottage industries and small shops marks an historic turn in Amish life. There are three new industries that they have embarked upon. One is home based operations in addition to bakeshops, hardware stores, quilt shops and repair shops to name a few that cater to tourist, but serve the needs of the Amish and non-Amish alike. The third type of industry is the mobile work crew. They mostly travel to new home sites. The Amish construction groups travel to building sites for commercial and residential construction. The construction crews travel in hired vehicles and in some settlements they are permitted to use electric tools powered by portable generators and on-site…show more content…
Indeed, they pay school taxes twice, for both public and Amish schools. The Amish are exempt from Social Security tax as they view Social Security as a national insurance program. Congressional legislation, passed in 1965, exempts the self-employed Amish from Social Security. Any Amish persons employed in Amish businesses are also exempted by congressional legislation in 1988. But Amish employees in non-Amish businesses must pay Social Security without reaping its benefits. Bypassing Social Security not only severs the Amish from old age payments, it also closes the entitlement to Medicare and Medicaid (Kraybill). The aged, infirm, senile, and disabled are cared for, whenever possible, within extended family networks. To accept federal aid in the form of Social Security or Medicare would erode dependency on the church and undercut its programs of mutual aid, which the Amish have organized to assist their
Open Document