Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Amish Workarounds: Toward A Dynamic, Contextualized View Of Technology Use, Lindsay Ems

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Interviews with northern Indiana Amish business owners reveal a tendency to create complex technological workarounds that allow them to abide by shared religious values while remaining competitive in the marketplace. These observations support theoretical approaches to understanding Amish technology use that view technology use as socially contextualized, dynamic and contested. It draws on literature from science and technology studies which views technology as an artifact that is socially constructed. The participants in this study report struggling to manage tensions between maintaining economic stability and traditional family, community, and religious values when deciding whether or not to adopt new technologies. These …