Amish Gone Wild

Amish Gone Wild

The main point of this video was to show how the lives of Amish teens are changed drastically when between the ages of 16 and 21 they are faced with a whole new lifestyle. This then leads them to face a very difficult decision. Durring the ages of 16 and 21, Amish teens are 'let lose' or able to live the life that English children live. They can move out, get their license, wear normal clothes and party on a regular basis. Then after this is over with they must make their decision, they can either continue to live the life of an English person and basically be free, or they can join the church and give their lives to God and the Amish ways. When these kids were allowed to be free they seemed to chose the wrong road, many following the path of drugs and alcohol. They weren't just messing around with common drugs either, they were actually

getting into more dangerous drugs like crystal meth, and in some cases even gettin involved with drug dealers and police. There were definitely elements of structural funtionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism present in this video. Structural functionalism was present in their everyday behavior. Their society is so stable in their own world because of how they work things out. They marry, grow beards and work for the rest of their lives for God. This all helps their own society function. They comitt their lives to the church and they are all content with that. They stick to the same traditions because they have always worked. Elements of conflict theory were shown when the kids actually rebelled rather than just experience

being able to wear normal clothes and watch T.V. I don't really think the point of letting them do this is so they turn to drugs and alcohol, but they all did. The point is so they can experience how English teens live and can be free. Not all English kids use drugs and drink. In the movie it was stated that more than half the people who join the church later chose to leave. I dont think that is how it's supposed to be. Another example was shown when the Amish parent stated that these kids aren't used to having spending money in their pockets, so now that they do they buy cars, and drugs and alcohol become accessible

to them. He said it's hard to teach them to be different than other kids when there's so much peer pressure. I think the peer pressure is a big issue and factor on why they become so wild. He also said, "The outside world is the Devil's playground". An element of symbolic interactionalism would be how the church expects these kids to make the right choice and come give their lives