Andy Isaacson
Toward a New Critical Theory with a Cosmopolitan Intent
Ulrich Beck
Why-question: Why are social scientists and politicians stuck within a national perspective of the world
even as aspects of the global environment have changed?
Motivational mechanism: People are motivated to act within the structure of society put forth by
politicians and social scientists.
Key concepts:
 Cultural Value Relationships (p. 455): “cultural as wells as scientific precommitments which
fundamentally structure social and social-scientific perceptions of reality.”
 Cosmopolitan Question (p. 454): “Is there a clear sociological alternative to the national
mystification of societies and political order?”
 Methodological Nationalism (p. 454): A “social-scientific perspective of political actors” that
assumes that “nationalism means that every nation has the right to self-determination within the frame
of its cultural distinctiveness.”
o Principles
 “Subordination of society to state.”
 “Plural of societies,” “no singular.”
 Territorial Boundaries: notion of the state-constructed boundaries being the container of
society
 Circular Determination: “The territorial nation-state is both the creator and guarantor of the
individual citizenship rights and citizens organize themselves to influence and legitimate state
actions.”
 Dichotomy of national and international: “foundation of the dominant ontology of politics
and political theory.”
 National Statistics: “the state as the guarantor of the social order provides the instruments and
units for the collection of statistics about social and economic processes required by empirical
social science.”
 Zombie-categories: “either-or”/”us-them” categories that do not allow for blurring (i.e., “bothand”).
 Methodological Cosmopolitanism (p. 457): “It is a new perspective on the whole power game,
redefining the state as one actor among others in a broader meta0game over the rules of world
domestic politics.”
 Positive Problem Shift (p. 456): debounding politics and society; removing the separation of
‘national’ and ‘international’ (i.e., moving towards a cosmopolitan perspective)
 Merit system (p. 459): “related to internal, intra-state qualities”
o Small inequalities (p. 459): “inequalities found within the nation state”
o Positive Legitimation (p. 460): reflexive and reciprocal merit system that can in principle be
tolerated by the underprivileged
 Nation-State Principle (p. 459): “the “legitimization” of greater inequalities between states.”
o Large inequalities (p. 459): “transnational, supranational, international, and global inequalities.”
o Negative Legitimation (p. 460): non-reflexive, non-reciprocal subjugation of the oppressed that
can not be tolerated by the underprivileged. Essentially identifying the underprivileged as unreal.
o Double exclusion (p. 460): excludes considerations for oppressed from the minds of oppressors
 Negotiation spaces (p. 466): openings for change from reevaluating the world through a
cosmopolitan perspective
1
Methodological Nationalism
1. “The nation-state world order
fragments global inequalities” (p.463).
a. “Because there are
approximately 200 states, there
are approximately 200
different frames for small
social inequalities” (p.461).
2. “National equality norms exclude
global inequalities” (p.463).
a. “The objectivity of global
social inequalities is politically
irrelevant as long as these
inequalities remain in the
shadow of institutionalized
equality norms, like
citizenship” (p.461)
3. “Intranational inequality comparison
ensure international incomparability”
(p.463).
a. Presuppose national equality
norms, thus comparison can
only be completed
intranationally and not
internationally (p.462)
4. “The predetermined irrelevance of
large inequalities enables powerful and
wealthy nation-states to burden poor
states with the risks entailed by their
decisions. “(p.463).
a. “…Risks are externalized, i.e.,
imposed on weaker developing
or emerging countries and
regions, while profits are
maximized within the rich
countries of the West
“Great Transformation”/
Positive Problem Shift
Evidence
1. “Boundaries have become
permeable and
interdependencies” exist
(p.463).
2. Human Rights are
increasingly detached from
citizenship” (p.464).
3. “Increasingly, mechanisms
of inclusion and exclusion
no longer follow the
classifications into classes
and strata which end at the
border…” (p.464).
Problems of still holding NationState perspective
1. “…globalization’s winners
and losers are increasingly
distributed according to
production sectors that are
either shielded or from the
market or exposed to it”
(p.465).
2. Terrorist attacks (p.465).
3. Nation-states do not
possess the proper powers
to intervene, or to observe
the current world (p.465).
2
Methodological Cosmopolitanism
1. “Global or transnational
interdependences, process, power,
relations, and causalities” must be
interpreted from a global/historical
perspective (p.461)
2. replace national norms with
transnational/cosmopolitan norms
(p.462).
3. “Make international comparisons
within a common perceptual
framework of institutionalized
equality” (p. 462)
4. Release underprivileged countries
from the risk they are incurring for
the developed nations (p. 463).
5. “Reexamination of the fundamental
concepts of “modern society”
(p.458)
a. Household, power, class, etc.