The new cosmopolitans: Challenges and discontents

This paper investigates some psychodynamic aspects of a new global class: New Cosmopolitans work in highly creative professions that are organized in global networks run in English. Their identities are more influenced by these networks than by ethnic, national, and religious upbringing, and their frame of reference is global. Clinical, sociological, and economic data suggest that it is more difficult for New Cosmopolitans to maintain stable self-esteem, because their frame of reference is global. They suffer more from the existential fear of insignificance associated with mortality, and their existential safety is lowered because they are less rooted in ethnic and national structures. Nevertheless, New Cosmopolitans are a very influential group because of their influence in media, academia, and high-tech, and it is therefore a valuable project to understand their psychodynamic and to investigate implications of their lifestyle and the necessity of using Skype to maintain therapeutic continuity with them.