Makers and Markers of Distinction: Technology and Amish Differentiation in the 1935-1936 Study of Consumer Expenditures
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Date
2014-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Libraries
Abstract
Plain groups differentiate themselves from the world, and from one another, by technology. It is
worth recalling, however, that before the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Amish
farmers and artisans used the same technologies as their neighbors, and were often more
advanced than those around them in agricultural techniques and tools. This article examines the
early development of technological differences as markers of subcultural boundaries based the
massive Study of Consumer Purchases (S.C.P.) conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in
the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Bureau of Home Economics in the U.S. Department of
Agriculture in 1935 and 1936.
Description
Keywords
Amish, technology, Study of Consumer Purchases, group differentiation, church discipline, 1930s, Lancaster County, PA
Citation
Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies v. 2, no. 1 (2014), p. 125-146.