The Sociology of Cosmopolitanization – Soc 514 (Spring 2014)
Time: Monday 11-2 Location: N-403
Professor Daniel Levy (e-mail: daniel.levy@stonybrook.edu)
Office Hours (Room SBS S-443): Wednesday 1-2 (and by appointment)
Globalization processes are recasting political, social, economic and cultural facets in the 21st
century. While it is not (yet) clear where these changes are heading, they do raise a number of
epistemological and sociological questions about the validity of our current analytical tool-kits.
Despite of these apparent changes and even in light of their institutionalization much of the
social science literature remains caught in a resilient ‘methodological nationalism.’ It is bound up
with the presupposition that the national-territorial remains the primary container for the analysis
of these social, economic, political and cultural processes. To overcome this ‘methodological
nationalism’ the nascent field of cosmopolitan sociology has become a prolific realm of study.
Unlike older philosophical engagements with Kantian cosmopolitanism as a universalistic
principle, we are interested in the sociological dynamics of cosmopolitanization. This implies a
“non-linear, dialectical process in which the universal and particular, the similar and the
dissimilar, the global and the local are to be conceived not as cultural polarities, but as
interconnected and reciprocally interpenetrating principles” (Beck, 2006: 72-72). Instead of
viewing cosmopolitanism as a normative desideratum, or as anti-thesis to an essentialized
version of the national, cosmopolitization itself can be viewed as a constitutive feature for the
reconfiguration of nationhood. Treating cosmopolitization as a heuristic framework for the
analysis of global processes this seminar will explore key sociological themes including: the
foundations of collective identity formation; questions of inequality; issues of global justice;
facets of contemporary migration patterns; the politics of climate change; forms of governance
and the role of non-state actors. In addition students will have the opportunity to explore the
relevance cosmopolitanization processes have for their topic of interest.
Course Requirements:
In addition to your active participation, you are expected to write short analytic reaction papers
on the reading materials. Your final project will take the form of a research paper on a theme of
your choice that should involve a clear cosmopolitan dimension. Your project should aim to be
suitable for either a journal article, grant or dissertation proposal. A comprehensive bibliography
should be appended to the project. Your final grade is composed of 30% for reaction papers and
participation, 70% for the final paper.
Readings: Readings will be available on Blackboard.
If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your course
work, please contact Disability Support Services,128 ECC Building (631) 632-6748. They will
determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and
documentation is confidential. Students who require assistance during emergency evacuation are
encouraged to discuss their needs with their professors and Disability Support Services. For
procedures and information go to the following web site: http://www.ehs.sunysb.edu and search
Fire safety and Evacuation and Disabilities.
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Part I: Theoretical Considerations
1) January 27: Introduction and Overview
2) February 3: Toward an Agenda for a Sociology of Cosmopolitanism
Vertovec, Steven and Robin Cohen (eds) (2002) “Introduction” in Conceiving cosmopolitanism:
theory, context and practice Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1−22
Delanty, Gerard “The Cosmopolitan Imagination; Critical Cosmopolitanism and Social Theory”,
British Journal of Sociology, 2006, 57, 1, 25–47
Beck, Ulrich “Cosmopolitan Sociology: Outline of a Paradigm Shift” (2011) in: Maria Rovisco
and Magdalena Nowicka, in: The Ashgate Research Companion to Cosmopolitanism. Ashgate,
Farnham/ Burlington, pp. 17–32.
3) February 10: Conceptual Tools for a Sociology of Cosmopolitanism
A) Methodological Cosmopolitanism
Beck, Ulrich and Natan Sznaider 2006. “Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social
sciences: a research agenda.” British Journal of Sociology. 57, 1–23
Kendall, Gavin Ian Woodward and Zlatko Skrbis The Sociology of Cosmopolitanism (Kendall
and Woodward, 2009 (pp. 1-32)
B) Varieties of Cosmopolitanism
Beck, Ulrich and Edgar Grande, 2010. “Varieties of second modernity: the cosmopolitan turn
in social and political theory and research.” British Journal of Sociology. 61, 409–443.
Jabri, Vivienne 2007. “Solidarity and spheres of culture: the cosmopolitan and the postcolonial.”
Rev. Int. Stud. 33, 715–728.
4) February 17: Research and Library Review Session
Part II: Cosmopolitan Scales
5) February 24: Cosmopolitan Belonging
Brubaker, Roger and Frederick Cooper. 2000. “Beyond Identity” Theory and Society 29: 1-47
Delanty, Gerard 2011. “Cultural diversity, democracy and the prospects of cosmopolitanism: a
theory of cultural encounters.” British Journal of Sociology 62, 633–656.
Turner, Bryan S. 2002. “Cosmopolitan Virtue, Globalization and Patriotism.” Theory, Culture
and Society 19, 45–63
Calhoun, Craig ‘“Belonging” in the Cosmopolitan Imaginary’, Ethnicities, 2003, 3, 4, 531–68.
Kate Nash, “Cosmopolitan Political Community: Why Does it Feel So Right?” Constellations,
2003, 10, 4, 506–18.
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6) March 3:Experiential Cosmopolitanization
Guest Lecture: Bilge Sanli (Stony Brook – Sociology Department)
“Understanding Cosmopolitan Orientations”
Lamont, Michele and Sada Aksartova, “Ordinary Cosmopolitanisms: Strategies for Bridging
Racial Boundaries Amongst Working-Class Men”, Theory, Culture & Society 2002 19(4) 1–25.
Szerszynski, Bronislaw and John Urry, “Visuality, Mobility, and the Cosmopolitan: Inhabiting
the World from Afar”, British Journal of Sociology, 2006, 57, 1, 113–31.
Werbner, Pnina 2006. “Vernacular Cosmopolitanism” Theory, Culture and Society. 23, 496–498.
Woodward, Ian, Zlatko Skrbis, and Bean, C. (2008). “Attitudes Towards Globalization and
Cosmopolitanism: Cultural Diversity, Personal Consumption and the National Economy”. The
British Journal of Sociology, Vol 59(2): 207-226.
7) March 10: Institutional Cosmopolitanization in a Global World
a) Changing Forms of Global Order
Held, David (2010)“Introduction” in Cosmopolitanism. Ideas and Realities 1-26 Polity Press,
Cambridge, UK.
Linklater, Andrew “The global civilizing role of cosmopolitanism” in Gerard Delanty (ed.) 2012
Routledge Handbook of Cosmopolitanism Studies pp. 60-72
b) International Relations and Sovereignty
Levy, Daniel and Natan Sznaider, 2006. “The Transformation of Sovereignty: Towards a
Sociology of Human Rights” British Journal of Sociology 57, 657–676.
c) Global Justice and the Human Rights Regime
Brown, Garrett Wallace (2010) “Moving from Cosmopolitan Legal Theory to Legal Practice:
Models of Cosmopolitan Law” pp. 248-266 in Brown, G.W., Held, D., 2010.
8) March 24: Research Proposal Presentations
9) March 31: Research Proposal Presentations cont.
Part III: Cosmopolitan Carriers: Flows and Movements
10) April 7: Media and the Flow of Images and Information
a) Conceptual Considerations
Ong, Jonathan, 2009. “The Cosmopolitan Continuum: locating cosmopolitanism in media and
cultural studies” Media, Culture and Society. 31: 449-466
Kyriakidou, Maria, 2009. “Imagining Ourselves Beyond the Nation? Exploring
Cosmopolitanism in Relation to Media Coverage of Distant Suffering.” Stud. Ethn. Natl. 9, 481–
496.
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Chouliaraki, Lillie, Blaagaard, B., 2013. “Cosmopolitanism and the New News Media.”
Journalism Studies 14, 150–155.
b) Media and the Cosmopolitan Habitus
Kuipers, Giselinde, de Kloet, J., 2009. “Banal cosmopolitanism and The Lord of the Rings: The
limited role of national differences in global media consumption.” Poetics 37, 99–118.
c) Media Receptions
Urry, John (2003) “The Global Media and Cosmopolitanism” (working paper)
11) April 14: People Movements
Wimmer, Andreas, Glick Schiller, Nina, 2002. “Methodological Nationalism and the Study of
Migration” Arch. Eur. Sociol. XLIII 217-240.
Morris, Lydia. 2009. “An emergent cosmopolitan paradigm? Asylum, welfare and human
rights.” British Journal of Sociology 60, 215–235.
Glick Schiller, Nina, Darieva, T., Gruner-Domic, S., 2011. “Defining Cosmopolitan Sociability
in a Transnational Age: An Introduction”. Ethic Rad. Stud. 34, 399–418.
12) April 21: Transnational Social and Political Movements
Delanty, Gerard, 2012. “A cosmopolitan approach to the explanation of social change.”
Sociological Review 60, 333–354.
Kurasawa, Fuyuki “A Cosmopolitanism from Below: Alternative Globalization and the Creation
of a Solidarity Without Bounds”, European Journal of Sociology, 2004, 45, 2, 233–55.
Leontidou, Lila 2010. “Urban Social Movements in ‘Weak’ Civil Societies: The Right to the City
and Cosmopolitan Activism in Southern Europe” Urban Studies, 47(6): 1179-1203.
13) April 28: Final Research Presentations
14) May 5: Final Research Presentations continued
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