Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism is an idea of ancient philosophical origin now rejuvenated within a variety of research fields and increasingly applied across the social sciences and humanities. The idea of cosmopolitanism describes a social, cultural, and political process whereby people feel connection not only to local and national others and territories of belonging but also to the world as a whole. Cosmopolitanism also refers to a general orientation of openness, including an open and receptive attitude towards the geographical, cultural, and embodied Other, and the possibility of some form of solidarity and dialogue with people and things that are culturally different to oneself.

Some cosmopolitan theorists, most notably Ulrich Beck and colleagues, have argued that in a globalised world a novel mode of social analysis is required where ...