The Amish Life
The video Devil’s Playground is about the trial that every Amesh person must go through in their life. The Amish believe something that very few religious groups support, that a person can only choose their faith when they are grown up and mentally mature. Just for this belief, they were continuously persecuted in Europe, which is why they have moved to the U.S. Here, they have endless possibilities for raising their children without having to worry about being enforced to change their beliefs. Yet, after the age of 16, a child has every possible temptation before them, which is a good test of faith. For the Amish, this temptation includes almost any product of the Industrial Revolution: electricity, cars, electronic devices, etc. This film depicts the struggles of the Amish children, who have turned 16 and are in their period called Rumspringa, which literally means “running around”. During this age, the children are allowed to do anything they want and come into contact with the outside world without limitations (The Devil’s Playground 2001). This means hosting and participating in enormous parties, owning cars, having girlfriends and boyfriends, dressing in an “English” manner. Although parents tell their children that they do not like what they do, they do not tell them that they must change their ways.
This film introduces a couple of “rumspringa” teenagers and adults, each with their own understanding of the Amish culture and their own reasoning for staying outside or joining the church. Like Faron, some are going back in an attempt to hide from the persecutions of their past. Velda does not feel like she can stay with the church even after she had already joined. This differentiability of views in the video uncovers the Amish culture’s ideals, the foundation of this society, and what they value. This paper will try to analyze this social bondage and structure with Emile Durkheim’s concepts.
Duckheim’s Concepts
Emile Durkheim was a sociologist born in Loraine, France. After performing as an excellent student at all stages of education, he taught for many years as a philosopher until he was permitted to conduct the first sociology course in France. Durkheim has brought up two kinds of social solidarity – mechanical and organic. The idea behind mechanical solidarity lies within the limited labor division, which is an example of what held together an early society. An organic solidarity forms, as Durkheim argues, due to the division of labor itself as within more modern society, the needs of individuals are still inter mutual. In both types of solidarity, a person creates a level of respect and acknowledgment of their rights by following the societal norms and contributing towards it.
Mechanical Solidarity
A mechanical solidarity forms between people in a simplistic society, where the division of labor is minimalistic. Usually, the workload, in this case, is divided only by age and sex. Due to this, everyone is very familiar within a society and helps it operate like a big family. Individuals share similar experiences by equally contributing to the unity and wellbeing of the community. Durkheim (1984) often uses the law to demonstrate the social construct and as a way to understand the roots of the basic principles embedded in it. In mechanical solidarity, the law is looked at differently than in organic solidarity. In a small commune, the law is not just a matter of morality, but a way to ensure the collective conscience’s unity. By committing a criminal offense, the offender is hurting everyone within the society, not only the victim. Therefore, for the sake of unification, every crime must lead to punishment. Interestingly, within such institutions, despite having a penal law, most of the social pressure to follow the individual’s obligations comes from social acceptance. It is not the punishment that scares a criminal, but the shunning of their friends and family.
Organic Solidarity
Organic solidarity forms within large, highly populated societies, where the idea of social conscience is weak compared to smaller communes. In these living environments, the division of labor is highly advanced, and everyone has a role of their own, which leads to different experiences for each position. As these experiences become less well-rounded, a “personal consiousness” is formed, leading to every individual having a unique distinctiveness. The dependence of a person becomes more centered around their kind of labor division than society as a whole (Durkheim 1984). Concerning the law systems within a large community, according to Durkheim (1984), it becomes restorative, meaning that the role of the law is not only to punish a criminal for their actions but also to restore the situation to its original state. Such a difference can be seen in legal penalties to compensate the victim or the victim’s family financially.
Application of Durkheim’s Concepts
In the video, the Devil’s cradle, a battle between the preference to mechanical and social solidarity, can be observed. The Amish living in America is a perfect representation of how a small society contradicts the ideas of a bigger one. In the film, an older man states that opposing what many people think, the church’s restrictions are not based on technology, but on what would damage the social bonding within the culture. For example, a battery wouldn’t do much to break a family connection, but video games or a car would as they tend to reduce the amount of time people spend with each other. In Durkheim’s ideas on mechanical solidarity, he writes what an elder from the video says. To be a part of such a tight community, one must sacrifice a part of their individuality (The Devil’s Playground 2001). It has to be done to keep the social morality unified; otherwise, it would collapse. The lack of division of labor is also very clearly defined as a crucial part of Amish culture. Young children are expected to drop out of school after the eighth grade because “education leads to pride”. Also, it can be suspected that this requirement helps keep the division of labor to a minimum since the range of jobs Amish children will be able to attend is limited by their education. A high-school diploma or a college degree would allow a student to follow a particular working experience route, alienating them from the rest.
There is a mention of something resembling a “law” within the Amish society in the video. Since everyone there is still a part of a more massive, organically intertwined country, they still have to obey the United States laws. Instead of having harsh punishments like death or mutilation, the Amish punish someone by shunning. As the girl who left the Amish community after she already joined the church explained, it is the family’s last way to show their love (The Devil’s Cradle 2001). Just as Durkheim explained, everyone in the community commits to shunning punishment because it affects the entire population’s morale.
Conclusion
This film is an excellent depiction of the contrast between the social and mechanical solidarity. The Amish people’s definition of life and moral ideals represents how tightly related and interdependent they are on one another. After seeing the very different opinions of children given the choice of whether to join the church or not, it can be concluded that a more advanced society is not necessarily better. The division of labor and individualism is a natural result of a growing population. It should be taken as a need rather than an advancement because the ways to manage a society differ based on the size and the ideals of said population.
Reference List
Cantor, Steven. 2001. “Devil’s Playground.” Stick Figure Productions Inc. Cinemax.
Durkheim, Emile. 1984. Durkheim: The Division of Labor in Society.
Translated by W. D. Halls, edited by S. Lukes. 2nd. ed. Palgrave Macmillan.