Localism usually describes social measures or trends which emphasise or value local and small-scale phenomena. This is in contrast to large, all-encompassing frameworks for action or belief.

Localism can therefore be contrasted with globalisation, although the two are best seen as complementary rather than opposing. Localism can be geographical, but often it is not. Globalization is a term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that are the result of dramatically increased trade and cultural exchange. ...

Examples of localism are:

• The slow food movement, using diverse, seasonal, natural food in reaction to multinational merchandizing of food which is uniform, produced using industrial methods, and called fast food.
• The Interactive Local Media movement as evidenced by:
  • The Kelsey Group (http://www.kelseygroup.com)
  • The Northwest Voice (http://www.northwestvoice.com)
  • Backfence.com (http://www.backfence.com)
• Local radio broadcasting, which is useful to small local communities rather than the national or international community.
• Tertiary government where small community councils make relevant decisions, with some degree of independence from local or national government.
• Workers councils, where the employees of a particular workplace discuss and negotiate with their employer, rather have this done by a national union which may be remote from local issues .
• Postmodernism can be seen as a sort of cultural localism, where accepted cultural values may be ignored in favour of people creating their own criteria of value.
• Federalism and devolution are examples of politically localistic movements.

• Religion (Protestantism and heresies):
  • Exclusive localism holds that there can't be more than one legitimate institutionally visible church at one given location, the variation of which varies but is usually held to be either a city or a neighbourhood.
  • Localism is more generally the congregationalist idea that each local church should be autonomous, only extended to reject any formal association of churches. It is specially relevant among Baptists, where localists reject the forming of Conventions.