Did Muncie, Indiana [Middletown] represent the typical American town?
SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET: Well, you know, Middletown – if you think of it as being somewhat of a typical American town – exhibits a number of things which we think of as American. One is this pride in country, and pride in place. The people in Middletown were very proud of America, they were also very proud about Muncie, proud of their community. And this kind of boosterism certainly was very prevalent in Muncie. I think Muncie was [also] typical in its religiosity in its churchgoing habits, which again is a very American thing. QUESTION: How did the American sense of pride in their country figure into the idea of American exceptionalism? SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET: The whole idea that Americans have pride in the country, gets into another meaning of [American exceptionalism], that [the country] was providential, that it was God’s country, that it was the New Jerusalem. Which, you know, the [American] Revolution was thought of, as creating a new and better society, that the hand of Providence,
