The Sociology of Cosmopolitanization – Soc 514 (Spring 2014)
Time: Monday 11-2 Location: N-403
Professor Daniel Levy (e-mail: )
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: and search Fire safety and Evacuation and Disabilities.
Part I: Theoretical Considerations
1)January 27: Introduction and Overview
2) February 3:Toward an Agenda for aSociology of Cosmopolitanism
Vertovec, Steven and Robin Cohen (eds) (2002) “Introduction” inConceiving 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 aSociology of Cosmopolitanism
A) Methodological Cosmopolitanism
Beck, Ulrichand 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.
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, Pnina2006. “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.
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 aTransnational 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 Review60, 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,Lila2010. “Urban Social Movements in ‘Weak’ Civil Societies: The Right to the City andCosmopolitanActivism 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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