The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio
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| Language: | English |
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The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
2003
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1064374526 |
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oai_dc |
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NDLTD |
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English |
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| topic |
cultural anthropology Amish labor exchange economic anthropology agriculture traditional farming community folklore religion |
| spellingShingle |
cultural anthropology Amish labor exchange economic anthropology agriculture traditional farming community folklore religion Long, Scot Eric The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio |
| author |
Long, Scot Eric |
| author_facet |
Long, Scot Eric |
| author_sort |
Long, Scot Eric |
| title |
The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio |
| title_short |
The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio |
| title_full |
The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio |
| title_fullStr |
The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio |
| title_sort |
complexity of labor exchange among amish farm households in holmes county, ohio |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2003 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1064374526 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu10643745262021-08-03T05:48:25Z The complexity of labor exchange among Amish farm households in Holmes County, Ohio Long, Scot Eric cultural anthropology Amish labor exchange economic anthropology agriculture traditional farming community folklore religion Economic success for the Amish is due, in part, to labor exchange practices and other similar communal sharing practices. While the topic of labor exchange has been given a fair amount of attention by social scientists in many settings, there have been no labor exchange studies on the Old Order Amish from an anthropological perspective. Specifically, this research project considers aspects of labor exchange and its relationship to farm production from an empirical analysis of two Old Order Amish church districts in Clark Township in the southeast portion of Holmes County, Ohio. The unit of analysis is the Amish farm household consisting of a family of three or four generations engaging in an intensive type of agriculture as defined by Netting (1993:28-29). Although the data collected represents farm labor inputs of individual households within the two separate church districts, the focus of this dissertation is both an examination of how Amish farm families share labor at the household level and an examination of how labor is shared among member households of the community. The latter includes organized and seasonal labor exchange, such as grain threshing or silo-filling; informal and occasional labor exchange, such as frolics or work gatherings by collateral family and neighbors; mutual aid, multi-community labor exchange, such as a barn raising; and labor exchange outside of agriculture yet vital to the farming community, such as schoolhouse cleaning by family members in a parochial district. The main hypothesis of this dissertation proposes that Amish farmers engage in labor exchange activity in order to pool human capital so that the combined work output is greater than the amount of labor that each farmer could accomplish individually. The second hypothesis contends that the traditional dichotomy between labor sharing and commodification of labor in Amish society is moving toward greater commodification of labor along with farm intensification, population pressure, and local economic expansion. The methodology for this ethnographic research uses both quantitative and qualitative data collection of labor exchange among farmers in two Amish church districts from July 1998 through June 1999. The quantitative portion employs a survey instrument using interview techniques for gathering specific details regarding labor exchange practices. Key informant interviews and participant observation make up the qualitative data collection with the goal of obtaining cultural arrangements of labor exchange practices. Secondary data of household census material from the Ohio Amish Directory serves the purpose of obtaining broader demographics as a baseline of Amish families. Sahlins domestic mode of production will be used as a basis of comparison for labor exchange between and among households (1972: 91-135). Further, Nettings concept of reciprocity is examined in terms of labor flow (1993:194-197), which can be both flexible and subject to variation in scheduling (Wilk & Netting 1984: 5-9). Specifically, this research project considers aspects of labor exchange and its relationship to farm production from an empirical analysis of two Old Order Amish church districts in Clark Township in the southeast portion of Holmes County, Ohio. The unit of analysis is the Amish farm household consisting of a family of three or four generations engaging in an intensive type of agriculture as defined by Netting (1993:28-29). Although the data collected represents farm labor inputs of individual households within the two separate church districts, the focus of this dissertation is both an examination of how Amish farm families share labor at the household level and an examination of how labor is shared among member households of the community. The latter includes organized and seasonal labor exchange, such as grain threshing or silo-filling; informal and occasional labor exchange, such as frolics or work gatherings by collateral family and neighbors; mutual aid, multi-community labor exchange, such as a barn raising; and labor exchange outside of agriculture yet vital to the farming community, such as schoolhouse cleaning by family members in a parochial district. The main hypothesis of this dissertation proposes that Amish farmers engage in labor exchange activity in order to pool human capital so that the combined work output is greater than the amount of labor that each farmer could accomplish individually. The second hypothesis contends that the traditional dichotomy between labor sharing and commodification of labor in Amish society is moving toward greater commodification of labor along with farm intensification, population pressure, and local economic expansion. The methodology for this ethnographic research uses both quantitative and qualitative data collection of labor exchange among farmers in two Amish church districts from July 1998 through June 1999. The quantitative portion employs a survey instrument using interview techniques for gathering specific details regarding labor exchange practices. Key informant interviews and participant observation make up the qualitative data collection with the goal of obtaining cultural arrangements of labor exchange practices. Secondary data of household census material from the Ohio Amish Directory serves the purpose of obtaining broader demographics as a baseline of Amish families. Sahlins domestic mode of production will be used as a basis of comparison for labor exchange between and among households (1972: 91-135). Further, Nettings concept of reciprocity is examined in terms of labor flow (1993:194-197), which can be both flexible and subject to variation in scheduling (Wilk & Netting 1984: 5-9). 2003 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1064374526 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1064374526 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |