ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to present an argument for the Internet as a significant relational, cognitive and symbolic environment for the discursive construction of distinct types of cultural and political expressions of cosmopolitan relationships. It discusses both the virtual and cosmopolitanism within arguments against the notion of a virtual cosmopolitanism. The sociological empirics have shown the Internet to be conducive for 'bridging' social capital, that is, creating 'inclusive, outward looking networks and heterogeneous groups' 'encompassing people across diverse social cleavages' extending to appropriations of 'e-mail', 'blogs' and 'social media sites'. The homogenisation thesis locates its incredulities for virtual cosmopolitanism in a wider sociological tendency toward creating homophilic networks, interactions and groupings. Instead of representing an imitation of a corporal community, the more abstract virtual community is a different way to imaginatively pursue a modern sense of belongingness as communities are 'distinguished, by the style in which they are imagined'.
