Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-414) and index.

Is cultural diversity under threat? -- Theoretical framework -- Markets -- Poverty -- Classifying societies -- Citizens: nation and cosmopolitan identities -- Consumers: economic values -- Morality: traditional values, sexuality, gender equality, and religiosity -- Activists: civic engagement -- Cultural convergence over time? -- The implications for cultural policies.

Publisher description: "Societies around the world have experienced a flood of information from diverse channels originating beyond local communities and even national borders, transmitted through the rapid expansion of cosmopolitan communications. For more than half a century conventional interpretations, [the authors] argue, have commonly exaggerated the potential threats arising from this process. A series of firewalls protects national cultures. This book develops a new theoretical framework for understanding cosmopolitan communications and uses it to identify the conditions under which global communications are most likely to endanger cultural diversity. The authors examine empirical evidence at both the societal level and the individual level, examining the outlook and beliefs of people in a wide range of societies. The study draw on evidence from the World Values Survey, which covers 90 societies in all major regions worldwide from 1981 to 2007. The conclusion considers the implications of the authors' findings for cultural politics."