Framing Societal Cosmopolitanism in Europe. A Theoretical-empirical Research Study

Inspired by the notion of ‘societal cosmopolitanism’ (Pendenza 2015a)– that combines attachment to local territory and openness towards others – social relations on the part of Europeans are tested empirically. The article posits that this type of cosmopolitanism can exist in concomitance with other relational forms towards Otherness. Its main characteristic lies in the idea that it is not nourished by the abstract principle according to which such status can be attributed only if one feels a ‘citizen of the world’. On the contrary, without totally rejecting the idea, societal cosmopolitan mantainsthat if cosmopolitanism is to shrug off its abstraction, it requires a social anchorage to root it more firmly to real life. From a methodological perspective, a contrastive analysis is putting in place relative to research carried out on European cosmopolitanism and subsequently tested empirically using data from EB71.3. Findings showed that almost 25.0% (30-40% in specific countries) of the European citizens fit the description ‘societal cosmopolitans’.