Globalizing Cultures: Theories, Paradigms, Actions

Vincenzo Mele, PhD (2004), University of Bielefeld/University of Pisa, is Researcher Professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Pisa. He has published monographs and articles in the field of cultural and urban studies, including Sociology, Aesthetics & The City (Plus - Università di Pisa, 2011). Marina Vujnovic, PhD (2008), University of Iowa, is Assistant Professor of Global Communication, Media and Journalism at Monmouth University, NJ. She authored a monograph on Gender and Journalism in interwar Yugoslavia and co-authored one on Partecipatory Journalism Practices in Online Newspaper.

Acknowledgments ix
Notes on the Contributors x
Introduction: Globalizing Cultures: Theories, Paradigms, Actions 1
Vincenzo Mele and Marina Vujnovic

PART 1: THEORETICAL EXAMINATIONS AND CONCEPTS: GLOBAL CULTURE, GLOBAL IDENTITY, AND GLOBAL CIVIL SPHERE

1 Investigating Global Culture: Its Creation, Structure, and Meanings 23
Victoria Reyes

2 Global Interaction and Identity in Structuralist and Dialectic Perspectives: Toward a Typology of Psycho-cultural Identities 39
Ino Rossi Emeritus

3 The Civil Sphere beyond the Western Nation-State: Theoretical and Empirical Reflections on Alexander’s Cultural Sociology and Its Contribution to Civil Society Discourse 66
Peter Kivisto

PART 2: NEOLIBERALISM BETWEEN STATE AND MARKET: NATIONALISM, INTERNATIONAL FREE TRADE AND PERSISTENCE OF THE STATE

4 The Role of the Nation-State in the Global Age 89
Andrea Borghini

5 Faustian States: Nationalist Politics and the Problem of Legitimacy in the Neoliberal Era 111
Cory Blad

6 Deification of Market; Homogenization of Cultures: ‘Free Trade’ and Other Euphemisms for Global Capitalism 124
Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis

PART 3: TRANSNATIONAL PRACTICES AND RESISTANCE: GENDER, MEDIA, AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

7 Transnational Activism, Feminist Praxis, and Cultures of Resistance 143
Nancy A. Naples

8 Transnational Flash Publics: Social Media and Affective Contagions from Egypt to Occupy Wall Street 174
Jack Bratich

9 Transnational Feminist Media Practices: Seeking Alliance Against Global Capitalism 196
Marina Vujnovic

10 Shifting Contours in Latin American Cultures of Resistance 211
Ricardo A. Dello Buono

PART 4: GLOBAL CONSUMER CULTURE: TOURISM, TASTE, CONSUMPTION AND IMAGINARY

11 Distinction and Social Class in America and Europe. Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Taste in Cross-Cultural Comparison 233
Vincenzo Mele

12 Consumption, Identity, Space: Shopping Malls in Bogotá 258
Enrico Campo

13 Trafficking Gypsiness in the 21st Century 288
Mihaela Moscaliuc

14 Tourism, Expatriates, and Power Relations in Vieques, Puerto Rico 311
Karen Schmelzkopf

PART 5: HUMAN RIGHTS, EQUALITY AND CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT

15 Overcoming the Divide: Arab Women between Traditional Life and a Globalizing Culture 331
Saliba Sarsar and Manal Stephan

16 The Millennium Development Goals and Gender Equality, and Empowerment in India 353
Rekha Datta

Index 371