Cosmopolitanism through mobility: physical‐corporeal or virtual‐imagined?

In the context of increasing cross-border mobility and the associated interconnections and diversities, 'cosmopolitanism' has become a key concept in sociology. Understood as individual real-world orientation, many authors consider a central cause for cosmopolitanism in physical-corporeal mobility, in particular transnationally. However, the significance of virtual and imagined mobility, such as via television or the Internet, is increasingly emphasized. Nevertheless, it has so far been little examined how and with which relative strength physical-corporeal and virtual-imagined mobility are associated with cosmopolitan orientations. Unlike previous studies, the two forms of mobility are considered simultaneously. On the basis of existing studies and theoretical considerations, it is assumed that the dimension of global orientation is influenced rather by physical-corporeal than by virtual-imagined mobility, whereas the dimension of cultural openness is influenced rather by virtual-imagined than by physical mobility. One reason could be the different potential of the mobility forms to respond to perceived conflicts in the confrontation with the Other. The hypotheses are preliminary tested using data from an online survey that allows both to distinguish locals, (national) shuttles and transnationals, and to query media use. An exploratory principal component analysis confirmed, as in other studies, that global orientation and cultural openness are distinct dimensions. The results of the multivariate analyses largely support the hypotheses and indicate that in investigations of cosmopolitanism, the processes of identity-related self-categorization should be distinguished from pure socialization processes.