Космополитна емпатия и солидарност. Опит за диференциране на понятията
Cosmopolitan Empathy and Solidarity. An Attempt to Distinguish between the Concepts

Summary/Abstract: The article problematizes the basic categories of Ulrich Beck’s cosmopolitan sociology project. The focus is specifically on the category of “cosmopolitan solidarity”, as a precondition for the formation of communities beyond national, class or ethnic boundaries. These communities are at the core of the theory of cosmopolitization, the basic task of which is to point out the paths and possibilities for surviving under conditions of “world risk society”. The author’s reasoning is based on the critical thesis that the various concepts used to describe cosmopolitization, as a mode of attitude towards strangers, are not sufficiently precise and differentiated. The article then tries to lend greater precision to the concept of cosmopolitan solidarity, as a mode of asserting social distance, with its preconditions and levels. The stress of this discussion is on the emotional and cognitive levels of social distance, and on the concepts in terms of which those levels can be understood sociologically. Drawing upon debates on empathy, sympathy, and compassion conducted in other disciplines, the article attempts to understand them in sociological terms in order to make them adequate for a sociological model of cosmopolitization.

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