Futher info can be veiwed at http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/amana/communal.htm
As with many other experiments, and indeed, similar to the motivation which drove the "Pilgrims" to the new world (namely a desire to live according to a set of religious principals without interference from the outside world) the Amana colonies were religious in provenance. This brings them into affinity with groups like the Shakers, and "Mormans" and the Transcendental Meditation movement.
Some of these groups were organized with power at the top, and some were cooperative. Many of these groups which have survived are still organized with power centered in the top leadership and masses of theoretically dutiful followers down below.
This model for making a group of human beings move in some deliberate direction is extremely old and has a history of failures of which I'm sure many of us are acutely aware. The differences between tribal societies and philosophically motivated societies are actually amazingly small.
Nearly every one of them has employed the basic animal concept of a pecking order.
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Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@xxxxxxxx
508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf/
