localism vs neighborhood-ism
I have to admit, I haven’t been following the dust-up between the First Thingers/ Pomocons and the Front Porchers all that closely. But I must say, that what I have read has been some pretty compelling stuff, and this post by Peter Lawler is right on the money when it comes to a smart critique of the larger localist philosophy. I think that for those cultural critics with a strong distaste for some aspects of modernity and individuality, localism can seem like a pretty good answer, because it seems to embody what community ought to be – what we’ve lost as we’ve modernized socially and technologically.
Lawler is right, though, local communities are often not in real life what we sometimes imagine them to be. And modern technology in many of its forms is very much a net gain for humanity.
Where I think I’ve started to draw the line is between “localism” and the concept of neighborhood. Neighborhoods are important no matter the size of the town or city. They can allow families and individuals to interact – or they can lay the groundwork for isolation. Probably the central critique that localists offer is that of the atomized individual (or individual family, I’d add. Many families find themselves cut off from their neighbors and communities.) But one does not need “localism” or a return to a rooted sense of place to achieve better communities and more connected neighborhoods. [Read more →]
July 2, 2009 13 Comments
