A Bridge over Troubled Water? Cosmopolitan Orientations and Their Relationship to Solidarity

While some have argued that in order to enhance solidarity in divided societies (affected by for instance ethnocultural diversity or major class differences), people should embrace inclusive orientations of national identity. By contrast, others have argued that strong feelings of national identity hinder solidarity in diverse societies, suggesting that enhancing more cosmopolitan orientations toward identity, i.e. cosmopolitanism, may contribute to stronger feelings of solidarity. In order to test this argument, this paper is built-up in two parts. The first part of the paper reviews trends in and correlates of cosmopolitan orientations using the major comparative social surveys (European Values Study, European Social Survey, International Social Survey Program, Eurobarometer). The second part of the paper zooms in on the relationship between cosmopolitan orientations toward identity and social solidarity. The combined effort will clarify whether strong notions of cosmopolitanism are a viable strategy for solidarity in diverse societies.