Cultural Isolates and Memeology - Page 2
© Donna L. Quesinberry
The Amish quotient of the Pennsylvania Dutch are a religious group who live in settlements in 22 states and Ontario, Canada. The oldest group of Old Order Amish, about 16-18,000 people, stress humility, family and community, and separation from the world. The groups differ primarily in matters of dress, language, forms of worship, and the extent to which they allow modern technology and the forces of the "outside world" to impact their lives.
Most Brethren and Mennonites dress much like their "English" neighbors. Other Mennonites, Brethren and Amish Mennonites wear distinctive Amish clothing but may make use of "worldly" conveniences -- such as cars, electricity and telephones. On the other hand, Old Order Mennonite and Old Order Amish groups are more restrictive in their views of modern technology, with the Old Order Amish being the most conservative of Lancaster County's "plain" groups.
As our example, the Pennsylvania Dutch feature as cultural isolates that further isolate through varying sub-cultures housed even within their own independent social setting.
Geography can be a dictum of cultural isolates or allomemes through natural factors (e.g., mountains, deserts, rivers, and/or seas) that affect relationships within masses of population, which become factors of change when cultures originate as a whole and then split into varied genetic or social structures. Geography can also prevent the influence co-located cultures that would (without geographical influence) naturally assimilate into unified social structures.
Classic mathematical memetic theory demonstrates that traits with more than one means of transmission have a greater tendency to homogeneity (to be the same genetically) within populations and that, horizontally transmitted traits are more likely to be spatially clustered.
As participants in the media and the Fourth Estate, it is good to understand Memeology and Philosophies as they relate to cultures within cultures within societies. These basic underpinnings of information help us in the pursuit of good final copy when we are developing works that may encompass certain communities of thought. Knowledge on how and why cultural adaptations may and do occur can aid our development in writings toward forethought on results of cultural trends and tendencies.
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