The cosmopolitanism of the sacred

This chapter argues that cosmopolitanism must have some basic notions of both the cultural distinctiveness of different societies and the unity of human kind. It explains the fact that cosmopolitanism is neither new nor necessarily seculara and discusses the uneven development of cosmopolitanism over time; there is no steady and certain progression towards a normative cosmopolitan world view. While many sociologies of globalization have optimistically imagined a movement towards an open, tolerant and democratic culture with political modernization, there is related but counter processes of social closure that may be described as the 'enclave society'. The chapter describes the relationship between major world religions and cosmopolitan virtue that is characteristically tragic. It considers a more subtle creation of social distance between communities by considering the world-wide spread of urban movements of religious piety. The contemporary rise of populism presents an explicit threat to the inclusive world of cosmopolitanism.

© Routledge, 2018.