Small-Town Life and Difference

Political theory and related disciplines often carry the assumption that the small-town ideal of community is essentially homogenous and difference denying. Against this widely shared assumption, and by drawing on the work of Wendell Berry and bell hooks, this article argues instead that the small-town ideal of community, when fully adhered to, is one that respects difference, rather than necessitating homogeneity. The flourishing of small-town life requires a recognition of difference akin to Iris Marion Young’s description of “city life and difference.” To make this argument, the article examines both American political thought and recent ethnographic work before developing Berry’s and hooks’s difference-welcoming ideal of “beloved community.”