Mind, Body and Behaviour: New Trends and Prospects in Health, Education and Social Sciences Sibiu, Romania, November 2018 Chapter III CELEBRATING GLOBAL COMMUNITY TRANSNATIONALLY 1 Michael Stevens 1 , Laura Giurgiu 2 1 The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, U.S.A., Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania, michaelstevens@thechicagoschool.edu 2 Ovidius University of Constanţa, lauragiurgiu31@yahoo.com Abstract: A sense of global community is considered foundational to international justice and well-being. Celebrations play a key role in establishing and preserving the solidarity that undergirds a sense of global community. The substance of such celebrations must be culturally inclusive if they are to accomplish their unifying function, even though they may be celebrated in culturally distinct ways. The goal of this study was to examine the preferences of Romanian and Americans for eight themes that could serve as the basis for transnational celebrations of global community. Over 85% of Romanian and U.S. participants liked or wanted each of the global celebratory themes, and nearly 80% indicated they would probably or definitely attend a celebration of global community. Romanian and U.S. participants did not depart greatly from each other in the distribution of their preferences for celebratory themes or in the degree to which they desired those themes. At least 70% of the suggestions offered by Romanian and U.S. participants for an additional celebratory theme were categorized within the pre-existing eight themes, with a subset of the remaining suggestions revealing a preference for nationalistic celebration. The limitations of this study are discussed and directions for future research to foster shared identification with a global community are offered. Keywords: global community, global identity, transnational celebration INTRODUCTION Globalization has led to a more compressed and interconnected world, but what has been its impact on our sense of community? Given pressing humanitarian and environmental concerns that have no national borders, a sense of community defined by collective awareness of our personal interdependence and social responsibility has important implications. Understanding and addressing contemporary challenges that face the world requires international cooperation, and such cooperation emerges from a well- honed sense of global community (Deutsch, Marcus, & Brazaitis, 2015). Research has shown that global identity can operate as a psychosocial