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Cosmopolitanism, which is often defined as openness to other cultures and individuals, is significant for understanding processes of stratification in contemporary, globalised societies that are home to increasingly diverse populations. In this paper, we broaden the perspective on cosmopolitanism to include cultural, interpersonal, and political dimensions. We test the associations between these types of cosmopolitanism and three types of correlates: socio-demographic characteristics, personal exposure to other cultures, and exposure to other cultures via various media. We analyse data from nine European countries that differ in the characteristics of their population, cultural traditions, and political models. Results indicate that differences between respondents in the nine countries are better explained by individual characteristics than by country characteristics. Furthermore, it is mainly personal and mediated exposure to other cultures, rather than socio-demographic variables, that play a significant role in influencing respondents' cosmopolitan tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the expectations of the advocates of the EU project, an expanded and integrated Europe has so far not resulted in an inclusive cosmopolitanism of Europe in its actually existing complexity and heterogeneity. The enlargement of Europe in recent decades, instead of contesting Europe and expanding it to include all of actually existing Europe, has rather gone in the direction of confirming a monolithic conception of 'Europe', as culturally and politically defined by Western Europe, and one that properly belongs to a white bourgeois class able to function in a transnational, neoliberal space. This has led to a hyper-consciousness, new or heightened anxieties about 'Europeanness' based on distinctions between East and West, North and South. The paper focuses on the implications of, aspirations for, and insecure belonging in Europeanness in countries and regions in the margins of Europe. It argues that one of the most important outcomes of a heightened narcissism around European identity in the post-Cold War period has been an ongoing expansion, as well as reconfiguration, of exclusionary racist and culturalist logics across Europe. In the margins of Europe, these have been especially destructive, in terms of turning countries, regions and ethnic groups against one another as well as causing (racialized) class divisions and tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]