The Localism Movement: Shared and Emergent Values

Localism, a movement to encourage consumers and businesses to purchase from locally owned, independent businesses rather than national corporations, has grown rapidly in the past decade. With several national, federated organizations and popular “buy local” campaigns, the localism movement has the potential to affect buying patterns, marketing, and distribution in American business. Yet localism remains understudied by researchers. This article, based on data from 38 interviews with localism leaders, identifies four of the movement’s priorities: independent ownership, local buying, local sourcing, and pragmatic partnering. In addition, we analyze the movement’s emerging values, including responsibility to workers and to the natural environment, and discuss the challenges these broader values present. Nancy b. Kurland Franklin & Marshall College nancy.kurland@fandm.edu Sara Jane Mccaffrey Franklin & Marshall College sarajane.mccaffrey@fandm.edu Douglas H. Hill Franklin & Marshall College douglas.hill@fandm.edu KEyworDS Localism Movement, Buy-Local Movement, AntiBig Box I. THE LocALISM MoVEMENT: MAIN STrEET TAKES oN THE MuLTINATIoNALS In the wake of the “big-box revolution,” which shifted commerce from Main Street to suburban malls, business owners and activists have joined together to revitalize downtowns.1 Localism, which urges consumers and businesses to purchase from locally owned, independent businesses, has spawned at least 11 national organizations. (See Table 1.) In this study, we focus on three of the largest organizations, all of which sport a federated structure. Together, these three organizations boast a total of 229 local networks in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and four Canadian provinces, and represent 47,000 members, most of which are businesses.2 Localism has grown rapidly in the past decade.3 It is a primarily urban movement, promoting economic justice, environmental responsibility, and social fairness.4 Environmental responsibility is more central to the mission of some localism organizations than others and a motivation for some, but not all, of the movement’s activists.5 In aiming to shift consumption from national chains and Internet retailers to local, independently-owned firms, the movement asks people to reconsider their relationships with their employers, their merchants, their neighbors, and their natural environment. What is localism? What is the organizational structure of the localism movement, and what consensus goals exist within it? How is localism related to the larger idea of community building, and