Interpretations of modernity and the problem of world-making

Abstract

The term cosmopolitanism both expresses an attitude towards our present time and provides certain keys to analyse it. This article aims to better understand the revival of cosmopolitanism since the end of the twentieth century by confronting conceptual developments in the social and political theory of modernity with the historical experiences of interpreting and institutionalizing modernity. At the heart of the matter are views about the prevailing social bonds between human beings and their implication for building and maintaining political institutions. The common view of modernity as marked by trends towards individualization and instrumental rationalization is redefined as one interpretation of modernity among others; and the current situation is regarded as a struggle over world-interpretations rather the imposition of linear trends towards globalization and individualization, a view that was dominant at the same time as cosmopolitan thinking revived.