Transnational Social Relations and Cultural Cosmopolitism

Recent publications in cultural sociology have postulated a shift in the axis of cultural hierarchies and cultural distinction. Whereas traditional boundaries between high brow and popular culture are supposedly eroding, new boundaries between more cosmopolitan and open lifestyles on the one hand and more traditional, nationally bounded patterns of cultural consumption are emerging. A major force in establishing this new cultural boundary is the structurally shaped exposure to different types of global or transnational experiences. In this session we discuss these assertions with a focus on empirical patterns in different European countries and on the relationship between transnational social relations and experiences on the one hand and cosmopolitan cultural patterns on the other hand.