Muncie as a political/economic microcosm of middle America : 1925 and beyond : an honors project (HONRS 499)

This paper examines how sociologists and journalists have used Muncie, Ind., as a window on "Middle American" culture since the Lynds' initial Middletown study of the 1920s. In addition to the Lynds' work and its follow-up in the 1970s by sociologist Theodore Caplow and his associates, journalists' accounts of how national political trends have been reflected among Muncie residents will be reviewed. Continuing similarities in political attitudes and economic trends between Muncie and the United States as a whole will be explored in determining Muncie's usefulness as a microcosm of American society.