In the modern world, in which globalization processes have led to radical changes at the macrolevel, mezzolevel and microlevel, cosmopolitanism is offered as a way of dealing with this “new world”. The long history of cosmopolitanism, the frequent changes of its meaning and its inseparability from the society which is in a state of change creates difficulties in the theoretical and empirical consideration of the concept. The aim of this paper was to discover the origins and contemporary theoretical considerations of cosmopolitanism which served to define a clearer conceptualization of this phenomenon. Based on the conceptualization and previous empirical research of cosmopolitanism, a quantitative survey was conducted with the aim of defining an instrument for measuring this concept and determining the factors that lead to the development of cosmopolitan attitudes, values and practices. The research was conducted by an online survey on a sample of students from the University of Zadar (N = 202). The scale used to measure cosmopolitanism showed a high level of reliability. The research established that socio-demographic characteristics and transnational experiences influence the expression of cosmopolitan attitudes, values and practices, while the most important predictor were the political attitudes and practices of the respondents. The research has gained important insights into cosmopolitanism that can serve as a basis for conducting new theoretical and empirical research. This research and other research projects on cosmopolitanism should take the knowledge of the concept, often referred to as the “21st century worldview”, one step further towards a clearer interpretation and understanding.