Social Transnationalism: Lifeworlds Beyond The Nation-State [Paperback]

In recent decades, the rise of world markets and the technological revolutions in transportation and communication have brought what was once distant and inaccessible within easy reach of the individual. The territorial and social closure that characterized nation-states is fading, and this is reflected not only in new forms of governance and economic globalization, but also in individual mobility and transnational transactions, affiliations and networks. Social Transnationalism explores new forms of cross-border interactions and mobility which have expanded across physical space by looking at the individual level. It asks whether we are dealing with unbridled movements and cross-border interactions which transform the lifeworlds of individuals fundamentally. Furthermore, it investigates whether, and to what degree, increases in the volume of transnational interactions weaken the individual citizen's bond to the nation-state as such, and to what extent citizens' national identities are being replaced or complemented by cosmopolitan ones

Part 1: From National Containers to Transnational Social Spaces  Part 2: The Cartography of Transnational Social Relations  Part 3: Transnationalism and the New Cosmopolitanism  Part 4: Unequal Transnationalism  Part 5: Conclusion

Social Transnationalism explores new forms of individual cross-border interactions and mobility which have expanded across physical space. It also investigates whether, and to what degree, increases in the volume of transnational interactions weaken the individual citizen's bond to the nation-state, and to what extent citizens national identities are being replaced by cosmopolitan ones.

Steffen Mau is currently Professor of Political Sociology and Comparative Social Research, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, UniverlÕ