Cosmopolitanism in Practice

What makes people cosmopolitan? How is cosmopolitanism shaping everyday life experiences and the practices of ordinary people? Making use of empirical research, Cosmopolitanism in Practice examines the concrete settings in which individuals display cosmopolitan sensibilities and dispositions, illustrating the ways in which cosmopolitan self-transformations can be used as an analytical tool to explain a variety of identity outlooks and practices. The manner in which both past and present cosmopolitanisms compete with meta-narratives such as nationalism, multiculturalism and religion is also investigated, alongside the employment of cosmopolitan ideas in situations of tension and conflict. With an international team of contributors, including Ulrich Beck, Steven Vertovec, Rob Kroes and Natan Sznaider, this book draws on a variety of intellectual disciplines and international contexts to show how people embrace and make use of cosmopolitan ideas and attitudes.

Maria Rovisco is Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Leicester, UK. She has published articles on mediated cosmopolitanism, globalization, and on the cultural borders of Europe. Among her recent publications are the co-edited books Cosmopolitanism in Practice (2009), The Ashgate Research Companion to Cosmopolitanism (2011) and Cosmopolitanism, Religion and the Public Sphere (2014). Magdalena Nowicka is a Research Assistant at the Institute of Sociology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany and holder of the German Research Association scholarship. She is the author of a number of articles on European integration processes, collective identity, cosmopolitanism and spatial mobility.