essay

War against progress: coping with social change

Amish struggle with modernityHanover, NhPublished In 1994 • Pages: 34-50, 263-264

By: Kraybill, Donald B..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Amish resistance to modernity in many ways is a war against the spirit of progress. The cultural battle waged by the Amish involves the drawing and redrawing of social lines to maintain their identity and preserve their culture. Donald B. Kraybill explores the external and internal documents of social change in Amish life and discusses the process by which new practices are rejected or gradually accepted. He identifies some of the social throttles that influence the adoption of innovations and discusses the cultural mixing of old and new that sometimes produces the baffling hybrids of Amish life (p. 35).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Sociocultural trends
Avoidance and taboo
General character of religion
Congregations
Cultural identity and pride
Functional and adaptational interpretations
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Amish
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2009
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Sociologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle; 2007
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
not specified
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
United States
NotesAdditional notes
Donald B. Kraybill
For bibliographical references see document 20: [Kraybill and Olshan]
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
94013668
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Amish