ABSTRACT
Cosmopolitan empathy refers to an emotional response to the plight of the poor in the Global South. The re-spatialization of the community has profound implications for moral economies. As noted above, cosmopolitan empathy builds on the ideals of world peace that mediate earlier versions of alternative tourism. Cosmopolitan empathy is a corollary of the cultural logic and economic policies of neoliberal global capitalism that have given rise to alternative, responsible and ethical consumption markets. The moral economy is "an economy that may rely on markets and money but that is governed or at least constrained by local community values and expectations". Scott's original use of the term "moral economy" was in the context of peasant societies where community relations sometimes at the expense of potential profitare integral to economic decisions. Today, communities are perceived in regional, national, international and global terms.
