Globalisation, Cosmopolitanisation and a New Research Agenda

This chapter demonstrates that a key progress of contemporary cosmopolitan debate is its attentiveness to transforming a philosophical ideal into an interpretative framework that shed new insights on social changes. It first provides a brief review on the history and definition of cosmopolitanism and what cosmopolitan social theory emphasise. It argues that contemporary theorisation extends the cosmopolitan investigations both ‘downward’ and ‘inward’ so as to capture its multiplicity of effects. Particular focus will be given to Ulrich Beck, who, before his sudden death in 2015, was the most visible and ambitious social theorist who championed developing grand theory of cosmopolitan sociology for the 21st century. It then draws on an empirical case to illustrate cosmopolitan belongings at work and to evaluate Methodological Cosmopolitanism (as opposed to Methodological Nationalism) as a new sociological research agenda. Methodological Cosmopolitanism’s alleged commitments to the fluidity and contingencies of social boundaries and to going beyond a Euro-centric theorisation hold much promise. But the journey has just started. There is still a lack of analytical tools to elucidate the power dynamic in these transnational public spheres.