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 ixNotes on the Contributors xIntroduction: Globalizing Cultures: Theories, Paradigms, Actions 1Vincenzo Mele and Marina VujnovicPART 1: THEORETICAL EXAMINATIONS AND CONCEPTS: GLOBAL CULTURE, GLOBAL IDENTITY, AND GLOBAL CIVIL SPHERE1 Investigating Global Culture: Its Creation, Structure, and Meanings 23Victoria Reyes2 Global Interaction and Identity in Structuralist and Dialectic Perspectives: Toward a Typology of Psycho-cultural Identities 39Ino Rossi Emeritus3 The Civil Sphere beyond the Western Nation-State: Theoretical and Empirical Reflections on Alexander’s Cultural Sociology and Its Contribution to Civil Society Discourse 66Peter KivistoPART 2: NEOLIBERALISM BETWEEN STATE AND MARKET: NATIONALISM, INTERNATIONAL FREE TRADE AND PERSISTENCE OF THE STATE4 The Role of the Nation-State in the Global Age 89Andrea Borghini5 Faustian States: Nationalist Politics and the Problem of Legitimacy in the Neoliberal Era 111Cory Blad6 Deification of Market; Homogenization of Cultures: ‘Free Trade’ and Other Euphemisms for Global Capitalism 124Gwendolyn Yvonne AlexisPART 3: TRANSNATIONAL PRACTICES AND RESISTANCE: GENDER, MEDIA, AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS7 Transnational Activism, Feminist Praxis, and Cultures of Resistance 143Nancy A. Naples8 Transnational Flash Publics: Social Media and Affective Contagions from Egypt to Occupy Wall Street 174Jack Bratich9 Transnational Feminist Media Practices: Seeking Alliance Against Global Capitalism 196Marina Vujnovic10 Shifting Contours in Latin American Cultures of Resistance 211Ricardo A. Dello BuonoPART 4: GLOBAL CONSUMER CULTURE: TOURISM, TASTE, CONSUMPTION AND IMAGINARY11 Distinction and Social Class in America and Europe. Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Taste in Cross-Cultural Comparison 233Vincenzo Mele12 Consumption, Identity, Space: Shopping Malls in Bogotá 258Enrico Campo13 Trafficking Gypsiness in the 21st Century 288Mihaela Moscaliuc14 Tourism, Expatriates, and Power Relations in Vieques, Puerto Rico 311Karen SchmelzkopfPART 5: HUMAN RIGHTS, EQUALITY AND CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT15 Overcoming the Divide: Arab Women between Traditional Life and a Globalizing Culture 331Saliba Sarsar and Manal Stephan16 The Millennium Development Goals and Gender Equality, and Empowerment in India 353Rekha DattaIndex 371

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