Global Society, Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights

Global Society, Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights is the outcome of a decade-long scholarly project. The point of convergence emerging from the analyses contained in this volume is that “global society”, “cosmopolitanism” and “human rights” are likely to constitute the basis of present and future ways of life. The “project for humanity” of the future, while resting on local social associations, will have “globality” as its reference. A world dominated by globalisation processes obliges the social actors, on the one hand, and the institutions, on the other, to consider matters regarding issues of belonging, social ties and areas of action that go well beyond the classical nation-state picture. It is, therefore, essential to understand how human communities, individuals, and institutions relate to globality and its outcomes, particularly the désenclavement (unlocking) of the contemporary world. This volume provides detailed analyses of some of the dominant traits of the global society: the main dynamics of world unification, cosmopolitan lifestyles and mind-sets, and human rights as a form of regulation of human relations within this kind of society. The different articles are grouped according to their methodological features: the first part of the book is devoted to essays of a theoretical kind; the second to prevalently empirical studies. Vittorio Cotesta is Full Professor of Sociology at Università degli Studi Roma Tre. His fields of interest are global society, human rights, modernity, civilizations, and ethnic relations and ethnic conflicts. His recent publications include Global Society and Human Rights (2012); Prosternarsi. Piccola indagine sulla regalità divina nelle civiltà euroasiatiche (2012); and Société Globale et Droits de l’Homme (2009). Vincenzo Cicchelli is Associate Professor at Paris Descartes and a Research Fellow at Gemass (Paris 4/CNRS). He is the general secretary of the European Sociological Association and the chair of the Research Network “Global, transnational and cosmopolitan sociology” (ESA). His recent publications include L’autonomie des jeunes Paris, La documentation Française (2013) and L’esprit cosmopolite. Voyages de formation des jeunes en Europe (2012). Mariella Nocenzi has a PhD in Sociology of Culture and European Political Processes, and is currently a Researcher of Sociology at the Sapienza Università di Roma, where she teaches Social Politics. She is also assistant editor of the International Review of Sociology. Her latest publications include I giovani e le sfide del futuro (2011), and Equilibri di genere in Europa, with Marisa Ferrari Occhionero (2010).