Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism and Media Consumption: Hybrid Possibilities within Young Peoplexs Everyday Lives in São Paulo, Brasil

The increased circulation of cultural goods, to the point that they are disseminated worldwide, develops a sense that a global common knowledge exists. In order to understand this context, we consider global culture as an engine of cosmopolitan ways of being, and our perspective focuses on the interaction of global culture and cultural consumption. Our research goal is to discuss the meanings of cultural globalization in young people´s everyday lives, based both on its mechanical effects and on hybridization, through aesthetic cosmopolitanism. Given this context, our discussion for this proposal focuses on media consumption by young people from São Paulo (Brazil), once media has gained a central place in the contemporary cultural consumption. Contexts are spreading because of the indiscriminate increase of technological platforms (TV, tablet, mobile phone, computer) and of the diversity of patterns of media consumption, meaning that new arrangements for the everyday experiences of young people are created and developed. The analysis will bring qualitative and quantitative data from interviews with graduate students (N=40) and from a survey with young people from São Paulo (N=500), all aged between 18 and 24. This data set is part of an international research project, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication and the SESC-CPF (Center of Research and Formation from Brazil). The research results show us hybrid possibilities within these individuals´ lives. They are hybrid because: 1) their consumption follows the logic of the global market, mainly in digital media, still it is not standardized, once there are possibilities of incorporating comments and content with local meanings; 2) there are different ways of local participation of these young individuals, some are engaged to actions that contribute to a reflexive stance, and others search for entertainment (mainly global) and don’t connect to collective or local issues.