Rootless to a fault

But this cosmopolitanism is not without its dark side. Increasingly, many of our big cities' creative elites -- both native and foreign-born -- see themselves as citizens of the world. Our intellectuals are exploring the declining significance of place in the new globalized world order. And this brave new world cries out for an answer to the question: Does a person who swears loyalty to all cities and nations have any loyalties at all? I've always been struck by the fact that the same people who rightly criticize multinational corporations for having no sense of responsibility to place never seem to express the same concern about the equally "unplaced" creative elite.

A few years ago, I was at a fancy dinner party and found myself the only one at the table who held only one passport. (One couple added Canadian, or was it Irish, citizenship as an insurance policy in case their athlete daughter didn't make it onto the U.S. Olympic team.) Over the years, I've met way too many highly skilled expatriates who know little and care even less about the cities they live in. Just last week in Silicon Valley, I met an African-born Indian economist who said he moved to Washington from London to escape the British capital's rootlessness. "It's everybody's second home," he told me. "No one is really tied to the place."

Last month, the Los Angeles Business Journal published a special report on L.A. becoming a magnet for what one analyst called "global families" -- those who live and do business in Southern California and elsewhere. I wonder how much they know about the coalition-building that makes L.A. politics tick; I wonder what kind of local philanthropic activities they're involved in.

It's long been a sociological axiom that homeowners take better care of their houses and their neighborhoods than do renters. I think the same principle applies to cities and nations.

Without denying the benefits of globalization, we should remember the beauty and strength of parochialism.

It's all well and good to love the world, but real social solidarity is generally found on a smaller scale. And it's not just the unskilled immigrants we should be concerned about. We need to find ways to encourage the highly skilled ones to form a sense of attachment and commitment to their new homes. On top of that, we natives must remember that there is no honor in escaping engagement by becoming a citizen of the world.

For as much as globalization will continue to change the way we live, it will likely always be true (as quaint as it sounds) that home is where the heart is. At least it should be.

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grodriguez@latimescolumnists.com