Comparison of Amish and Non-Amish Farmers: A Diffusion/Farm-Structure Perspective1

Abstract Considerable attention has focused on farming practices and behavioral patterns that characterize Amish farmers from other agriculturalists. It has been suggested that Amish farmers are more concerned about the physical environment than non-Amish farmers because Amish employ fewer technology-intensive farming practices, though there is little empirical evidence to support such an assertion. To address this issue, data were collected from a sample of Amish and non-Amish owner-operators in Ohio to compare environmental attitudes and farming systems presently in use. Discriminant analysis was used to examine factors chosen to differentiate the two groups. Findings reveal that Amish respondents believed more strongly than other farmers that ground water pollution was an important environmental problem and that farmers should reduce chemical application rates to protect ground water resources. Other farmers exhibited greater willingness to participate in educational programs designed to reduce pesticide application rates. The two groups could not be differentiated by criteria used to make adoption decisions about farm technologies and farming practices; both used productivity and efficiency criteria when making adoption decisions.     

What Kinds of Places Attract and Sustain Amish Populations?

The Amish are one of the fastest growing ethnoreligious groups in rural America. They are not only growing in historic settlements but are also starting new settlements. This study synthesizes and tests hypotheses about Amish migration destinations and settlement sustainability. Specifically, hypotheses address factors related to population, agriculture, and proximity to other Amish. Findings suggest that the locations Amish settle have several defining characteristics including: low population density, nonmetropolitan county designation, context conducive to small‐scale farming (e.g., low farm acreage price, moderately rolling hills), vicinity to a small commercial center, low to negative population growth, and proximity to an existing Amish settlement. Some characteristics are showing increasing flexibility, such as a small‐scale farming context and proximity to a commercial center. Conversely, settling in areas with a growing population or at a distance from another Amish settlement contributes to a higher likelihood of community dissolution.     

Retail entrepreneurial values in a bicultural community: Cultural and economic contentions and negotiation

Economic activity is universal yet the objectives of entrepreneurship are culture-specific in that the entrepreneur cannot be separated from the cultural context. The purpose of this research was to understand the structural differences between the Old Order Amish and their non-Amish counterpart as they conduct entrepreneurial activity in a bi-cultural rural setting. Eleven months of field research uncovered distinct differences between the two groups with regard to three conceptual themes: responsibility, cooperation and competition, and success. Amish entrepreneurs often find themselves in a state of negotiation between contradictory values of their own cultural system and those of the dominant world. The economic behavior of non-Amish entrepreneurs, on the other hand, is steeped in notions of individual gain found in the free market system. In an increasingly multicultural world, understanding the role of culture in economic life becomes critical if cultural groups are to conduct business in the same marketplace.     

The Changing Experience of Australian Female Entrepreneurs

The study of female entrepreneurship is a dynamic field, with more women than men engaging in self‐employment in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Prior research in this field has identified a series of factors which characterize entrepreneurs. This paper examines the extent to which the experiences of Australian women entrepreneurs are reflected in the prior research. In particular, emphasis is placed on whether the personal characteristics, educational levels, motivations for starting business and resource acquisition behaviour of contemporary Australian women entrepreneurs are reflected in the prior research. While many of the key findings of prior research were found to describe accurately the experience of Australian women entrepreneurs, three new factors have been identified. First, Australian women entrepreneurs have increasingly come from business education backgrounds compared to the predominantly liberal arts backgrounds reported elsewhere. Second, the reasons for establishing small business differ insofar as they represent a greater proportion of general business needs as well as personal internal needs. Third, Australian women entrepreneurs are moving away from traditional ’female industries‘ into sectors identified as ’male industries‘ such as manufacturing. Overall, Australian women entrepreneurs demonstrate similarities in their identifying characteristics; however, significant shifts are occurring in their behaviours.     

The Changing Occupational Structure of Amish Males1

Abstract As a subculture, the Amish sustain a distinctive way of life while maintaining linkages with the larger society. Historically, this has been accomplished within the economic sphere through restriction of livelihood to farming and at-home occupations. This article documents the growing differentiation of the occupational structure of the Amish and their movement to nonfarm occupations. Occupational changes are discussed in terms of their impacts on Amish society.     

Survival and social change among the Amish in five communities

This article will explore the Amish subculture and evidence suggesting that gradual social change is occurring within the five communities selected for study: Berne, Indiana; Ethridge, Tennessee; Intercourse, Pennsylvania; Kalona, Iowa; and, Plain City, Ohio. Data has been collected from 87 Amish families using a 12 page structured questionnaire. Social change is investigated in each major social institution that impacts upon Amish life—and select micro-trends are identified for the mid 1980's. The findings in this sample suggest that the Amish are accepting selective (modest) acculturation—particularly in their work and their search for economic survival. The respondents in this study have sought to avoid extreme dependence on any one aspect of modern life, and they have remained largely unfettered by the national pursuit of success, careerism, competition, one-up-manship, and power seeking.Dr. Jerry Savells is a Professor of Sociology at Wright State University. Dr. Savells received his B. S. Degree in 1963 from Murray State University, and his M. A. Degree and Ph. D. Degree from Louisiana State University (in 1969 and 1971 respectively). Dr. Savells is the co-author of two books on the family, and has been conducting research among the Old Order Amish for the past four years.Requests for reprints can be sent to the author at: Department of Sociology, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435.This paper was presented at the New York State Sociological Society Meetings, New York, NY, October 19–20, 1984. This research has been supported by two College of Liberal Arts Research Grants (1982 and 1984) and a University Research Grant (1983) at Wright State University, Dayton, OH. Appreciation is expressed for this financial support.     

Continuity and Change Within the Core Corporate Elite

This study examines the core corporate elite in both 1935 and 1970 in order to assess three alternative theoretical explanations of the composition of this elite. The elite members are identified as those 83 individuals in 1935 and those 70 individuals in 1970 who served as directors of four or more of the 200 largest nonfinancial and the 50 largest financial corporations. The three explanations of the social characteristics and institutional affiliations of the members of the core corporate elite are derived from the alternative theories of corporate control: family control theory, financial control theory, and management control theory. From the results of this analysis, it is apparent that individuals affiliated with financial institutions represent a disproportionately large and relatively constant share of the core corporate elite. Individuals who possess super-wealth or who are members of the upper class represent a significant but somewhat declining share of this elite. Finally, most of the members of the core corporate elite are managers rather than entrepreneurs or inheritors. Moreover, the proportion of elite members who are managers has increased whereas the proportion of elite members who are entrepreneurs has decreased over time. In general, the core corporate elite is remarkably stable, in terms of its composition, even over a period of several decades.     

Response to Pennsylvania's Agricultural Preservation Programs1

Abstract Agriculture is the leading industry in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At the same time, encroaching development has pressured prime agricultural land to change uses, a change usually considered irreversible. Some regions of Pennsylvania have used zoning to control and plan for the development of agricultural land, but these decisions have not always been agreed on. In response to conflicts over zoning and calls for more effective restrictions of development of prime agricultural soils, the state government implemented agricultural preservation programs designed to ensure the future viability of Pennsylvania's agriculture. While response has been reported as favorable, most reviews relied on voters' support of a state referendum to fund agricultural preservation programs. Few have examined local responses to the implementation of these programs. This paper explores local community responses to agricultural preservation and the state's programs in three regions of Pennsylvania which differ in levels of urban presence and pressure. Using secondary sources, qualitative data, and general population surveys, this analysis provides implications about strategies of agricultural preservation in a state which leads in such efforts.     

‘My Grandfather Would Roll Over in His Grave’: Family Farming and Tree Plantations on Farmland*

Abstract In this paper we hypothesize that farmers with a stronger valuation of family farming will be more resistant to converting farmland to tree plantations. Our survey data analysis from 106 farmers in northern Alberta reveals that general opposition to trees on farmland is the strongest predictor of farmers' resistance to the establishment of poplar tree plantations on privately‐owned land. Valuation of family farming is the strongest determinant of resistance to trees on farmland. Among the potential intervening variables influencing support for tree plantations, including county, age, gender, number of children, and percent of income from farming, number of children and percent of income from farming had significant direct effects on valuation of family farming. This study suggests that economic incentives alone are unlikely to influence farmers' willingness to convert their land to non‐traditional uses, and that intergenerational transfer of land, and its relationship to valuation of family farming, deserves further attention in rural sociological scholarship.     

Making Modernity in China: Employment and Entrepreneurship among the New Generation of Peasant Workers

China is experiencing urbanization and modernization at the largest scale in human history. An army of over 280 million “peasant workers” are an integral part of this great transformation to modernity. Drawing on different data sources, including national representative random samples and the authors' first-hand survey data, we provide systematic comparisons between the older and the younger generation of peasant workers and between young peasant entrepreneurs in cities and young returnee entrepreneurs. We found that, compared with the older generation, the younger generation of peasant workers is better educated, holds more stable jobs, has a higher income, lives a happier life and is more optimistic about the future. Our analysis of the two types of peasant entrepreneurs shows that they are the elites among peasant workers, running successful business and making handsome profits. We also note that discrimination and institutional obstacles, especially the hukou system, remain to be overcome in the peasant workers' transition to modernity.     

Business and Social Profiles of Immigrant‐Owned Small Firms: The Case of Pakistani Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Greece

This study examines Pakistani immigrant entrepreneurs in Greece in order to identify patterns of ethnic entrepreneurship and socio‐economic challenges faced by ethnic entrepreneurs. The research aims to enhance understanding of the characteristics and business profiles of Pakistani immigrant entrepreneurs in Greece's capital, Athens, and make recommendations for the development of a follow‐up three‐year longitudinal study of Pakistani immigrant businesses in Athens. A survey administered to 13 Pakistani immigrant entrepreneurs recorded a wide range of data from which frequency distributions were processed as well as cross‐tabulations and Chi‐square tests, to reveal strong associations. Findings of note reveal that Pakistani immigrant entrepreneurs set up enterprises with their own capital rather than turning to the private financial sector, are mostly well‐educated despite earlier research noting the opposite, Greece is the terminal migration destination of choice for Pakistani immigrant entrepreneurs, their market‐share of work permits is proportionately larger than their residence permit share, they differ from other ethnic groups by substantial preference for operation of call centers, and they are very much bound to their ethnic enclaves. This body of research offers a unique contribution to an area which has until now been largely ignored.     

What Makes an Entrepreneur and Does it Pay? Native Men,Turks, and Other Migrants in Germany

This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial endeavours of immigrants' and natives in Germany, concentrating on Turks, Germany's largest immigrant group and one under‐studied in the literature. Self‐employed Turks in Germany represent about 70 per cent of all Turkish entrepreneurs in the European Union. We use data from the German Socio‐economic Panel to study patterns of self‐employment. First, we identify the characteristics of the self‐employed individuals and understand their underlying drive into self‐employment. Next we investigate how immigrant entrepreneurs fare in the labour market and compare their earnings to those of the natives. It is important for decision makers to understand entrepreneurial patterns so that they can shape policy that better fosters entrepreneurial activities. This paper presents several findings that can inform better policymaking. First, our investigation indicates that education is not decisive in determining whether one will choose self‐employment over salaried work nor in explaining earnings. The estimated age‐earnings profiles are the same for natives and immigrants, while the proclivity to become self‐employed is concave with respect to age for both groups. Immigrants' start with a higher probability to work than natives but have a slower increase in the self‐employment probabilities thereafter. The earnings of self‐employed immigrants' are higher initially, but their earnings path crosses eventually that of the natives. Second, we find some suggestion of ethnic entrepreneurial spirit. Turks are 70 per cent more likely to be self‐employed than any other immigrant group, although they do not necessarily earn more. These patterns should be further explored.     

Migration, remittances and rural development: findings of a case study in the Indian Punjab

Rural household survey data in the Ludhiana district of the Indian Punjab was used to study the nature and role of remittances in rural development. Of the 1646 outmigrants from the area since 1961, the 949 women who migrated for marriage and children under 12 years old were excluded from the study. Nearly all husbands who outmigrated had sent remittances. Parents and grandparents were 2nd and 3rd most likely to remit, but their numbers were small. Education did not correlate with remittance. Distance and time since emigration did not affect remittance. The frequency and the size of remittances are discussed. Remittances to outmigrants were insignificant. The remittances from outmigrants seem to raise the incomes and the levels of living of rural households. The remittances serve the purpose of redistributing income from urban to rural areas. Remittances also widened the gap between rich and poor in the rural areas because the better-off groups were more likely to receive remittances than the poorer groups. Most of the money sent from outmigrants was spent on consumable goods, food and clothing. Only a small proportion was spent on productive investment. This was usually done by farming families who invested in land or farm necessities. It is concluded that remittances from outmigrants can have a positive effect on the rural economies. Investment opportunities for nonagricultural families must be provided.     

Decoding Worker “Reliability”: Modern Agrarian Values and Immigrant Labor on New York Dairy Farms

This article examines the reasons offered by New York dairy farmers for hiring undocumented immigrant workers in their milking parlors, and connects those discourses to broader economic and cultural change in U.S. agrarian society. Based on interviews with 25 dairy farmers on 22 farms, this article examines farmers’ assessments of the Amish, white non‐Amish, Puerto Rican, and undocumented Latino labor pool. The analysis shows that farmers consider undocumented immigrants the most “reliable” workforce, and that their reliability stems from their deportability and from their separation from their families, which drives them to work long hours. I argue that farmer discourses about immigrant “reliability” must be understood in the context of economic pressure to adopt a more commercial orientation to dairying, and of modern agrarian values that prize urban middle‐class lifestyles. Ultimately, worker “reliability” is a euphemism for the transnational separation of workers from their families, and one that is operationalized by farmers to justify the pursuit of economic success and more leisure time off the farm.     

Agricultural Paradigms and the Practice of Agriculture1

Abstract This research examines the relationship between endorsement of agricultural paradigms and reported farming practices. An agricultural behavior index is constructed from measures of pesticide use, source of nitrogen fertilizer, farm diversity, and whether or not people grow a home garden. This index and the individual measures of farming practices are then analyzed to determine how they relate to an alternative-conventional agricultural paradigm scale and several of its items. As expected, alternative and conventional agriculturalists differ dramatically on the behavior index. And also as expected, the scale is more closely related to the composite agricultural behavior index than to the individual measures of farming practices, while these more specific agricultural behavior measures tend to be more strongly correlated with the scale items that correspond most closely to them. The major implication is that individuals' agricultural paradigms do impact the way they practice agriculture.     

Mobility Patterns of Swedish Farming Households

This paper deals with the mobility patterns of Swedish farming households sampled in the course of a survey of three areas in Southern Sweden, Mid- and North Sweden. Built around the concept of the notional family farm, the paper investigates three pairs of mobility strategies: (i) professionalisation–pluriactivity, (ii) specialisation–diversification, and (iii) intensification–extensification. The data stress the multi-directionality of movements over the life course of farming households. Although care should be taken in inferring macro-processes from micro-level data, there are grounds to conclude, among other things that pluriactivity is a stable reproduction strategy for a substantial part of the farming population. However, it has also been a generational phenomenon, with older farmers sometimes preferring pluriactivity to continued intensification. Although partly a means of tax-planning, diversification is to a large extent an alternative to intensification as a means of farm reproduction. It is further concluded that intensification is a structural process involving the vast majority of the farming population. Both young and old farmers tend to have intensified almost at the same rates, but tend to differ in their rates of extensification and stability, respectively. Overall, the conclusion is that this dynamic, far from being an endogenous development, is spurred by and implies an increased dependence on exogenous factors, especially on political regulation of reproduction conditions in agriculture.     

What Is Different about the Profile of the Social Entrepreneur?

In recent years, the term social entrepreneur has become increasingly common in academic and business circles. Social entrepreneurs engage in a variety of activities, but always with the intention of solving social problems. Social entrepreneurs are not merely people who perform acts of charity; they have an evident desire to improve social well‐being and develop projects with long‐term vision. The creation of sustainable social value is a key characteristic that differentiates them from well‐meaning individuals who simply engage in charitable works. There are, however, significant gaps in our understanding of social entrepreneurs and few empirical studies on the subject. This present study attempts to identify the characteristics of more socially oriented entrepreneurs, using sociodemographic variables and the theory of universal values toward work. Analysis of a sample of approximately 400 people shows that more than half of entrepreneurial orientation can be explained through the possession of the values of self‐enhancement (with an inverse relationship in this case), self‐transcendence, and conservation. The theory of universal values has proved extraordinarily useful for studying the characteristics of social entrepreneurs.     

Land-Grant University-Industry Relationships in Biotechnology: A Comparison with the Non-Land-Grant Research Universities1

Abstract The results of a 1986 survey of 185 biotechnology faculty in the land-grant colleges of agriculture are presented. Comparisons are made to a previous survey of biotechnology faculty in nonagricultural research universities. The survey investigates issues raised by industrial involvement in university biotechnology research and the impact of the new biosciences on the agricultural colleges. It was found that college of agriculture biotechnologists have more recently received their highest degrees, show more industrial involvement, and are more positive about the possible benefits of that involvement than their nonagricultural university counterparts. Industrial funding proved to be a significant exogenous variable affecting the activities and attitudes of agricultural college biotechnology faculty. Those with higher levels of industrial funding appear to have lower university productivity.     

Farming Patterns,Rural Restructuring,and Poverty: A Comparative Regional Analysis1

Abstract This study examines the contentions of two recent perspectives on rural economic organization and their implications for poverty. Building from (1) agrarian political economy and (2) the rural restructuring literatures, we present a comparative regional analysis of how farming patterns and other aspects of economic organization differentially affect poverty in rural areas. Data are based on 2,349 nonmetropolitan U.S. counties for the 1970–1980 period. Nonhired labor-dependent, family-operated farming (smaller and larger family farming) has relatively similar cross-regional effects on rural poverty. The effects of industrialized farming are more spatially variant, suggesting that this type of farming is integrated into regional political economies in different ways than are simple commodity units. However, farming patterns have only a small effect on rural poverty relative to other factors, such as the local employment structure, characteristics of the population, and geographic location. The results of this study highlight the need to move beyond the farm sector to understand both the dynamics of this sector and the socioeconomic consequences of rural restructuring. More broadly, the study underscores the importance of testing general sociological relationships under different spatial (e.g., regional) contexts.     

Farming and environmental discourses: A study of the depiction of environmental issues in a German farming newspaper

Maintaining the natural environment is increasingly seen as an essential aspect of agriculture in Europe, and conservation is promoted as an element of the farmer's role. It is therefore important to understand how farmers are reacting to this. In this study, the discourses relating to environmental issues used in a regional German farming newspaper are examined. The aim was to consider the arguments to which individual farmers are exposed when they read the newspaper and at the same time to examine the discourses used by the farming union in their promotion of farmers' interests. It was found that there were many interwoven arguments, which included traditional agricultural discourses as well as the newer environmental ones. It was clear that different aspects of agricultural and environmental issues were highlighted where they appeared to be beneficial to farmers' interests. Furthermore, it was found that in the promotion of the use of renewable resources, which was portrayed as being in the interest of farmers, the discourses used contrasted with those being used to defend farmers from accusations of environmental neglect or damage.