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Life in a Hutterite Colony: An Outsider's Experience and Reflections on a Forgotten People in Our Midst
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Oct, 2000 by Donald W. Huffman
Aspects of Hutterite community life are instructive for the modern world. The Hutterites demonstrate a remarkably stable pattern of communal living in a socially unstable world. Social stability is achieved by a combination of factors. Material, spiritual, intellectual, social and psychological needs are met in a community that has an orderly predictable existence. The system does not require the individual to deny the basic human drives, but to subject them to a community of love that is both human and spiritual. The expectations for the individual are clearly defined, and the individual is able to meet these expectations.
The Hutterites are successful in training and preparing their children for Communal living. Socialization is consistent in all age groups. A certain amount of human failure is tolerable within each age stage, while strong reinforcement is provided by the group. The Hutterites are effective in managing their adolescents, including them in family, work, and social responsibilities, and the young are able to meet the standards set by the community.
The Hutterites are able to accept material innovations without altering the cohesion of their community life. Members are not anxiety-ridden about impending social upheaval. They experience a high degree of belonging and few doubts about their basic religious beliefs. They are careful to distinguish between changes that improve the economic viability of the community and changes that would result in social erosion. They are one of the few subcultures in the Western world that maintain a culture of austerity--a way of living with less, and doing so with dignity and purpose (1983, pp. 45-46).
My own final thoughts: The Hutterites remind those of us in mainstream America of some virtues we have lost or are in process of losing, of some beliefs and ways of life that, while yet part of our personal and social fabric, are growing more faint. And they remind us that some of the more traditional beliefs and values yet have power to maintain dynamic communities. Four hundred seventy years, and counting. . . . Somehow a prophecy of another four hundred seventy years of Hutterite colony life--and then some--does not seem unrealistic, though as John Waldner, the head minister, told me: "Only if God so wills. . . ."
(*.) Donald W. Huffman, Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology at Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA 18104. E-mail address: dwhuffma@cedarcrest.edu; buffyfour@aol.com. His research interests include subcultures and the sociology of religion.
Notes
(1.) This is the distinctive feature of Hutterite Anaptism, which clearly distinguishes them from their spiritual cousins, the Amish and the Mennonites.
(2.) See Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1976); Spencer, The Evolution of Society (1967); Durkheim, Division of Labor in Society (1947).
(3.) That the extended family is truly effective in a Hutterite colony is attested to by their care of the elderly and the infirm. The Hutterites--who do not participate in the Social Security system--have, as do the Amish, their own social welfare system. They do not draw on state or federal government in this regard. Those who cannot work due to age or infirmity, for example, are cared for by colony members who can and do work on their behalf. If colony members can work or be active an hour a day or more, they are encouraged to do so. If that is not possible, they are not judged negatively, but treated with great respect and concern as integral members of the community. In Western experience, it has been said that no group treats their elderly with greater respect than the Anabaptist believers, whether they be Huttrites, Amish, or Mennonites. To demonstrate this genuine respect, even at the point of the death of one of the colony elders, 500 Hutterites attended the wake and funeral of an 80 year old man in Spring Prairie Colony during the summer of 1998. Such widespread support at significant life points is not unusual, I was told by my Hutterian informants, several of whom were becoming my friends.
