Local Solutions to Inequality: Steps Toward Fostering a Progressive Social Movement

Over the past four decades, inequality of income, wealth, and power have become increasingly extreme in the United States. The triumph of a neoliberal agenda to reduce taxes, deregulate the economy, and promote international trade has undermined the economic status of the middle class, increased poverty, and led to a concentration of wealth. This nation has gone through such periods before, followed by progressive movements that have realigned economic and political forces. I argue that we may be at a point where a new progressive social movement is about to emerge and I point out several areas where rural sociologists are working, such as local food systems, that reflect a reorientation of social values supporting such a movement. Promoting local food systems and similar locality‐based enterprises can foster economic relationships embedded in multistranded social relationships and contribute to progressive change through reducing the central role of large corporations in our daily lives. Building on Busch's (1999) concept of Leviathan, I identify the roles of researchers and community activists in which rural sociologists can work to democratize social, economic, and political relationships in society.