Community is, essentially, the opposite of Consumerism, the core belief for modern society. Consumerism is concerned with the acquisition of material goods by economic competition. Community is concerned with the development of positive relationships in a cooperative manner. It means Caring – both for the present and future inhabitants of the planet. It implies a just sharing of world resources. At its core is the principle of Cooperation, while the core of consumerism is competition. Community’s scientific face is “social capital,” a more formal sociological definition, which includes the study of the value of building strong personal “face to face” relationships as contrasted to consuming more and more consumer goods.

Community is a word this is typically used in two different contexts. First, it is the name given to a local population group. Our description of the ideal size of such a local group is “a few thousand” people living within an area of “a few square miles.” The second, and more important context, defines the “qualities” of society. These qualities include social traits such as mutual trust, mutual confidence and mutual obligation. It is the “qualities” of people raised in the tradition of the small community that is the most important factor in the definition.

The Move from Small Communities
In 1900 almost every community in America was a small community with a “local” economy. This has changed and today approximately 80% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas. About 20% (approximately 55 million people) live in small towns or communities. There are 2,000 counties in the country that have been identified as “rural,” which is one way to describe an area of small communities. Between 10,000 and 15,000 towns and villages fit the pattern of small communities. They are distributed around the country, fewer in the densely populated coastal states and more in the middle of the country, as well as in the less densely populated coastal areas.

A century ago, almost all small communities were farming communities. At that time half the population was farmers. Today only 2-3% of the population farm, yet 20% of the people still live in small towns. Many of these small communities have become places to live while commuting to work in a nearby city. In addition to farming communities, one finds small communities that are the locations of colleges and universities. Many small communities do manufacturing. And, as service workers become an ever increasing percentage of the work force, service communities have evolved. Some communities have become the residencies of people in poverty, dependent on some form of welfare support. The demographic variety of small communities has increased rapidly since the days when “small town” was associated with farming.

Many Americans think that what is small (and also “local”) is unimportant – and that bigness is the measure of significance. Yet it is often the details and particulars of ordinary living that determine the quality of our lives. Historically the small community has represented the best of the culture’s character. We believe that the small community is important because it has in it the basic values – particularly in terms of our relationships with others – which are eternal and universal. The history of America throughout the 20th century was the movement of people from rural life to urban life. In that sense the populations of small communities were some of the immigrants to our cities and they brought an important set of values to cities. But as more and more generations are born into the cities, new problems arise, showing up as extreme poverty, violence, competition, and individualism.

A Return to Community
During the period of the Great Depression, it was common for many people who were suffering economic difficulties and job loss to return to the homes of their parents in small towns and on farms. It brought them in contact with values that had been destroyed in the famous period of the Roaring ’20s. Today, there is a similar need for many people to “return home.” People need an option to the current trends of industrialization, urbanization, globalization and rugged individualism. Environmental degradation, financial scandals, and a threatening world situation require a different mode of life – one that optimizes both physical and human resources. That mode is the Small Community.