Community identity and language change in North American Anabaptist communities

Patterns of language maintenance and shift among historical German-speaking North American Amish and Mennonite communities reveal ways in which these groups have utilized language to encode and mediate group identity. The Old Order Amish and the Old Order Mennonites have maintained German to resist secular authority, to remain separate from the dominant society, to preserve the traditions of their forefathers and, above all, to mark themselves as Old Order. More liberal groups have shifted to English to demonstrate a commitment to evangelism and a rejection of Old Order practice. This paper supports the view that individual communities may actively direct language change. Guided by an ideology that invests particular patterns of language use with religious significance, each Amish and Mennonite community determines its own linguistic fate.     

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.     

Nonagricultural micro-enterprise development among the Pennsylvania Amish: A new phenomenon

The economic character of Amish communities shows signs of considerable change. Amish traditionally have depended on farming, and until recently, nonagricultural work was cause for excommunication from the church. The traditional farming base, however, is increasingly unable to provide the jobs and income necessary for the growing population. In response, there has been a rapid growth in nonagricultural micro-enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of this phenomenon in the Lancaster Settlement in Pennsylvania, the largest Amish settlement in Pennsylvania, and the earliest and still second largest in North America. The paper analyzes the characteristics of the Amish entrepreneurs, their businesses and markets, with comparisons with the standard entrepreneurial literature. The Amish entrepreneurs are found to be quite similar in many ways to entrepreneurs in general, but differ considerably in other aspects. Also, they often differ from popular perception, especially the newer Amish entrepreneurs. Results indicate that the newer Amish entrepreneurs are more dynamic and outward looking than the previous generation; perhaps more in the mold of nonAmish entrepreneurs. The success of the Amish entrepreneurs holds potential lessons for general rural business development strategies.     

The Relationship Between Weight and Career Payoffs Among Women

The thesis that weight affects women's life chances for reaching high-status, white-collar jobs is tested with survey data gathered from a large aerospace organization (N = 306). It is hypothesized that women who are at or below their desirable weight will have higher incomes and occupational positions than women who are overweight, with human capital variables controlled. It is further hypothesized that weight will be most related to occupational position in male-dominated occupations and in occupations that involve frequent contact outside the firm. Results show that weight is related to income, but only at entry-level professional/managerial occupations. Weight is significantly related to occupational position, especially so in male-dominated occupations. Weight is not more strongly related to occupational position in jobs involving outside contact. Findings are consistent with the interpretation that discrimination based on weight in the general society extends to the inner workings of workplace organizations.     

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.     

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.     

Reflecting upon vulnerable and dependent bodies during the COVID‐19 crisis

This article is a short narrative on how feminism helped me find a balance in my life and how this balance has been disrupted with the COVID‐19 crisis. I reflect on how this crisis is showing our vulnerabilities as human beings. This crisis reflects how our bodies depend on each other, moving away from the dominant patriarchal ontology that perceives bodies as being independent. This crisis is letting the most vulnerable in situations of survival because the infrastructures that support their bodies are not functioning. At the same time, this crisis is providing visibility to certain occupations that are dominated by issues of race, class and gender. These occupations are being at least temporarily rehabilitated to their central position in society. We are living a time where we could show, through our teaching, possible resistance to the neoliberal ontology that captured humanity.     

A Canonical Correlation Analysis of Occupational Mobility Among Mexican Americans*

Studies of occupational mobility have generally ranked occupations on the basis of their socioeconomic status level or prestige component to measure movement between jobs. Two potential problems may limit the usefulness of that approach for racial and ethnic minority groups: (1) the relationship between occupation and socioeconomic status may not be the same as for the majority group, and (2) minority group members are more likely to be clustered at the low end of both socioeconomic and prestige scales. Canonical correlation analysis requires no prior ranking of occupations, so we use it to investigate intergenerational and career mobility among a sample of Mexican Americans. The findings indicate that mobility among Mexican Americans is about as frequent as among the total population, but that the pattern of movement differs considerably. As a result, the relative status of occupations among Mexican Americans has changed over time and, consequently, socioeconomic status scales developed for the total population do not provide accurate assessments of mobility for Mexican Americans. This discrepancy is less noticeable for career mobility, indicating that among the latest generation of Mexican Americans, mobility patterns are becoming more similar to those in the rest of society.     

The Contribution of White Collars to Occupational Prestige*

Regression analysis of the 1947 and 1963 NORC occupational prestige scores for 45 occupations indicates that being white-collar may have contributed modestly to the prestige of the 24 nonmanual occupations in 1947, net of economic rewards and educational selectivity, but that any such effect had largely disappeared by 1963. The findings tend to support the view that the white-collar-blue collar distinction has become less important in American society.     

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.     

Social relations and the definition of work: Identity management in a low-status occupation

Work is an important source of self-definition in our society. Many low-status occupations, however, do not offer a definition of self that is agreeable to the worker. In these cases, workers may seek to manage the relationship between work and identity in a manner which enhances, rather than threatens, their self-conceptions. To examine this process of identity management, in-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-seven custodians. It was found that the social relations between custodians and building occupants were important to this process in two ways. First, relations with clients, as well as other selected facets of work, were embraced as a fulfilling and humanizing aspect of their work on which definitions of work were based. Second, it was in the context of social relations that these selected definitions of work were asserted, negotiated, and maintained. While members of all occupations may tend to stress the silver lining of their work, for those in a non-professional position this is a continuous process, because a publicly recognized ideology which elevates the image of the occupation does not already exist.     

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.     

A Single-Case Study of Resiliency After Extreme Incest in an Old Order Amish Family

This exploratory research brief presents a single case study of the resiliency of “Mary B.” She grew up in an Old Order Amish family where isolation, secrecy, and patriarchy masked repeated sexual assaults by her older brothers that began at age 7. By the age of 20, Mary alleged she had been raped on more than 200 separate occasions by members of her Amish family. After years of pleading with her mother and church officials to intervene, she sought therapy outside the Amish community. This led to three of her brothers being incarcerated. Her family disowned her and she was banned from the Amish community, leaving with an 8th grade education and little more than the clothes she was wearing. In less than 2 years, Mary had moved to a new town, completed her GED, obtained a car and driving license, maintained a small home, and worked as a certified nursing assistant. She consented to tape recorded interviews and completed several quantitative diagnostic measures. Scores on the diagnostic measures placed her within the normal range on self-esteem, competency, depression, stress, social support, and life skills. Analysis of interviews revealed Mary rebounded from her past by reframing her experiences. Themes identified within the interviews supported 6 of the 7 types of resiliencies (insight, independence, initiative, relationships, humor, and morality) outlined in the therapeutic Challenge Model.     

Review Essay: Community and Religion in a Post‐Modern Global World: A Review Essay on Anabaptist Religious Groups

The Amish on the Iowa Prairie: 1840 to 1910, by Steven D. Reschly. Mennonites in the Global Village, by Leo Driedger. On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren, by Donald B. Kraybill and Carl F. Bowman.     

Sociodemographic Determinants of Occupational Risks of Exposure to COVID‐19 in Canada

The activities performed by Canadian workers in some occupations may increase the risk of exposure to infectious diseases such as COVID‐19. This research note explores how occupational exposure risks vary by labor force characteristics using publicly available Canadian data in combination with a data set providing information on the level of physical proximity and frequency of exposure to infections or diseases faced by workers in different occupations. The results show important sociodemographic differences. First, women work in occupations associated with significantly higher average risks of exposure to COVID‐19 than men. This is driven by their overrepresentation in high‐risk broad occupational categories such as health occupations. Second, older workers (65 years or more), a group vulnerable to COVID‐19, appear to work in occupations requiring performing activities characterized by a lower level of physical proximity than their younger colleagues, with minimal differences in the frequency of exposure to diseases or infections. Finally, workers in low‐income occupations are employed in occupations that put them at greater risk of exposure to COVID‐19 than other workers. This is especially the case for women, immigrants, and members of visible minority groups in low‐income occupations. More broadly, this research note provides insights into the health‐related dimension of the literature on occupational tasks and labor market stratification.     

Women's Occupational Trends in the Irish Economy: Moving towards High‐skilled Occupations or Evidence of Deskilling?

In recent years the increased participation of women in the Irish labour market and in tertiary education would appear to have placed them in an advantageous position to make use of the expanded opportunities in knowledge‐based occupations. Using occupational data from the 1996 and 2006 census this article examines the experience of women in high‐ and low‐skilled occupations. The data indicate that women are over‐represented in high‐skilled occupations relative to their overall participation rate in the labour force but there is also an increase in the proportion of women in low‐skilled occupations. The employment of women in high‐skilled occupations is substantially weaker in the private sector than the public sector. Public sector employment, we argue, is a crucial factor in the increased participation of women in high‐skilled occupations.     

Ich will Feuerwehrmann werden!

In this article, we use the data from the German PISA 2006 national supplementary sample (PISA-E) to examine gender-(a)-typical occupational aspirations of boys and girls at the age of 15. To do so, we study three types of explanatory factors: the influence of parents, individual achievement as well as of school support for scientific activities. We find that parents are important socializing agents, yet, in a gender-specific way. While upper-class girls in particular prefer male-typed occupations due to the modern gender roles of their parents and better information about career prospects, boys are mainly influenced by their fathers?? role models, irrespective of their social class. In addition, girls are more likely to choose female occupations if they have low levels of competences and poor grades. Boys, in contrast, with good grades in math are more likely to choose male occupations, whereas boys with good grades in German are more likely to choose female occupations. These findings suggest that it is primarily because of girls that female occupations are being devalued, not because of boys. School activities to support scientific activities, however, do not affect gender-(a)-typical occupational aspirations, neither of girls nor of boys.     

Sex Role Variations in Occupational Prestige Ratings

Abstract

Studies of the prestige accorded to differing occupations by the general public, such as the NORC 1947 and 1963 ratings of 88 different occupations, have had a major shortcoming: they have focused on male-dominated occupations, and presented them to respondents in a context suggesting that male incumbents were to be given the prestige ratings. Analysis of the ratings by sex of respondent showed little systematic difference. In order to estimate the current public evaluation of occupations in which females have largely been segregated in the recent past, and to examine the sex role variations in these prestige ratings, data were collected as part of a larger study on ten occupations in the human service field, four currently male-dominated, three female-dominated, and four with a mixed sex ratio. Women were found to rate female occupations higher, but the ratings of men and women with respect to male dominated occupations were virtually identical. These findings persisted when race and social class of respondents were controlled. It is suggested that researchers who utilize the prestige of occupations as an explanatory variable in studies of occupational aspirations of youth, career choice job mobility and the like need to consider the different images of the work world held by men and women if their findings are to be valid.     

Trends in Socioeconomic Achievement among Immigrant and Native-Born Asian-Americans, 1960–1976*

The first waves of Asian immigration to the United States were halted by exclusionary and racist legislation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With the reforms of the 1965 Immigration Act, there has been a resurgence of immigration from Asia. This study analyzes changes in the socioeconomic composition of immigrant and native-born Asian-Americans (Japanese, Chinese, and Filipinos) from 1960 to 1976. The educational levels of all Asian groups, immigrant and native-born, have equaled or exceeded those of whites in recent years. Asians are more likely to be found in professional occupations than are whites, although there is also a concentration of immigrant Chinese and Filipinos in service occupations and the retailtrade sector. Native-born Asian-Americans have reached parity with whites in terms of average earnings, though immigrant Asians remain far behind. The findings are discussed in light of the changing structural conditions and opportunities of Asians in American society.     

The Socio-economic Integration of the Ethiopian Community in Israel

Using data from the 1995 Israeli Census of Population, this study examines the demographic, human capital, and labour force characteristics of the Ethiopian community in Israel and its determinants of employment. The results provide strong evidence for the overall disadvantaged socio‐economic status of the Ethiopian community and reveal substantial gaps in educational and occupational attainment between Ethiopian Israelis and members of other ethnic groups in Israeli society. Ethiopian Israelis have substantially lower levels of education, lower employment rates, and are more likely to have low‐skilled occupations. However, multivariate analyses show that the determinants of employment of Ethiopian Israelis are relatively similar to those of other ethnic groups. Education and veteran status are found to be especially important factors associated with increased odds of employment. Although the rates of return from education are lower among Israelis of Ethiopian origin compared to other ethnic groups, this study suggests that education constitutes the major avenue for upward mobility in the Ethiopian community. Nevertheless, considering their current disadvantaged position, the question of whether Ethiopian immigrants will manage in the long run to climb up the socio‐economic ladder and significantly improve their status, or whether they run the risk of becoming a marginalized ethnic group in Israeli society, remains a major concern. Implications for the formation of a new cleavage in Israeli society and the emergence of a stratification system based on race are discussed.