In this chapter, I take my point of departure from Mary’s story, which was published in Sweden’s largest daily newspaper. The purpose of this study is to reach a deeper understanding of the complex webs of relationships that have the potential to promote or constrain a cosmopolitan attitude in everyday life. The theoretical framework for understanding

the story of Mary’s struggle with issues of identity, rejection, and belonging, all coming to the surface through the purchasing of a graduation cap, includes both philosophical and sociological perspectives. My research questions are formulated as follows: How can moments of cosmopolitan expression as well as cosmopolitan resistance be traced and analyzed? How can the relationship between cosmopolitanism and communicative action be understood, and what is characteristic for contexts where transactional cosmopolitan situations appear?