Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
that shape Amish farming decisions, we also consider lessons that may carry over
to other types of family farmers where social, spiritual, economic and ecological
factors can all combine to shape decisions.
12.2
Conceptual Overview
Oikonomia
and Bounded
Rationality
The decision to practice organic dairy among the Amish is examined here using a
conceptual framework that combines an integrated value-based approach to decision
making called
oikonomia
and the information heuristics of a bounded rationality
framework.
Oikonomia
and bounded rationality are important frameworks for this
study because the Amish faith and church structure influences household and
individual values as well as their exposure to information and how information
is processed.
Oikonomia
and bounded rationality prove useful as frameworks for
discussing and comparing complex decision-making because they are integrated,
broad and flexible.
Oikonomia
4
derives from the Greek word for economics which here consists of
four key realms: economic, social, spiritual and ecological. The terms “economics,”
“ecology,” and “ecumenism”
5
overlap in common the root word
oikos
(Meeks
1985
;
Young
1992
), or “household”. Our broader usage of the term “farm household”
draws from holistic farming systems choice literature in North America (Barlett
1980
; Bennett
1982
; Salamon
1992
; Padel
2002
; Lunneryd
2003
;Bell
2004
). Like
ours, these studies look at broader motivations for farming and for farm decision-
making. The Amish offer an extreme case of how farming system choices are not
separable from broader
oikonomia
preferences at the community, settlement and
household levels.
Farmers and other decision makers do not always base decisions solely on
oikonomia
values, because of bounded rationality issues and constraints on informa-
tion access. The high cost of information gathering and processing particularly with
4
This use of economic argumentation resembles that of Adam Smith's
Wealth of Nations
(Smith
1776
) where economics was not a separate discipline as it is considered today but a branch of
philosophy which was integrated into all human activity and assessments of overall well-being
(Daly and Cobb
1989
; Goudzwaard
2000
). t is also important to point out that the term
oikonomia
has a holistic connotation that extends beyond the farm to consider long term values for the other
households and the surrounding community (Daly and Cobb
1989
), which can make farmers
happier in their own lives (Berry
1997
). It is the integrated essence of the “family farm” experience
where work, consumption, leisure, and relationship to others, the environment, and spirituality all
occur largely in the same place that seem to make for a large degree of “inseparability.”
5
“Ecumenism” is the management of a household's values, morals, and spiritual resources.
Economy or Oikonomia in the Christian Biblical sense is the way the Creator manages His
household and the way humans are called to steward the creation is mentioned several times in
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