Sociology and tourism

Tourism Social Science – Spring 2020

Prof Scott Cohen

s.cohen@surrey.ac.uk
Room 17AP02
Overview
• Part 1: Fundamental theories in sociology
– Structuralism
– Phenomenology
• Part 2: Application to tourism
– Marxist and Weberian understandings of tourism
• Part 3: Sociological research in tourism
– Fundamental areas of research
– Phenomenology of tourist experience
– Authenticity
Sociology
• Sociology: the study of society - the web of
human interactions and relationships
(Ginsberg 1939)
• The study of the structure of human society
and behaviour (Sharpley 2003)
• What is the relevancy of
sociology to understanding
tourism?
Tourism and sociology
• Tourism is a social phenomena
(Apostolopoulos et al 1996)
– Tourism is about people in societies
– An activity generated by some societies and
impacting others
• Main view points:
– The role of tourism in society
– Applying sociological theories to understanding
aspects and processes within tourism
Part 1

Main theories in sociology

What is sociology?
• Sociology examines the way in which social
structures influence individual’s behaviour.
• Sociology places human behaviour within a
wider context of social forces which is (largely)
beyond the individual’s control.
• What social structures can affect our
behaviour?
• What social structures may
affect tourism?
Main theories in sociology
• The main question?
– Does the individual affect society or is social
structure constant and unchangeable?
• Two main strands of sociology:
• Structural sociology/structuralism
– Functionalism/conflict
• Phenomenology
– Social action theory
Structuralism
• Macro-sociological
perspective
• Society is solid and real Social structures
– The relations between
individual and society?
• Individual’s beliefs and
behaviours are primarily Individual
shaped and constrained by
the social world (Sharpley,
2003).
Structuralism
Functionalism (consensuses)
• Sees society as similar to
the human body
• Emphasised societal
consensus.
• Any social phenomena
has a function in society.
• Relevancy to
understanding tourism?
Structuralism
Functionalism (consensuses)
Example:
Dark tourism may
provide the
means for
confronting death
from a safe
distance and in a
socially
acceptable
environment
(Stone & Sharpley
2008)
Structuralism
Conflict theory (Marxist sociologists)
• Society is based on conflict.
• The norms of society are
founded upon the ability of a
dominant group to impose
their values and behaviour
onto subordinate groups
(Sharpley, 2003).
– Possible base for conflict?
• Marx:
– Economy seen as central to
society (class conflict)
• Implications for understanding tourism? We’ll discuss that
soon….
Criticism of the structuralism
approach?
• Over emphases the socialisation process.
• Ignores the historical development of society
and minimizes human influence on the
development of social structure.
Phenomenology
• Society is formed by
individuals
Social structures
• Society is created though (Made up of individuals)
human interaction
– The relations between individual
and society?
• Individuals’ behaviour is a
result of our ability to
Individual
interpret and understand
• Focus on individuals’
interaction with society.
Phenomenology
Social action theory
• People actively create and shape their society
– Symbolic interaction: interaction through signs and
symbols (e.g. language)
• Weber: status relations
– Status group is determined by lifestyle and prestige
(reflected in consumption of goods)
• Implications to understanding tourism?
Criticisms of phenomenology
• Over emphasising the role of the individual in the
development of society.
• Research using this approach has been criticised
for being small scale and lacking the
development of theory to analyse society as a
whole (Slattery, 1991)
Pause for thought…
• To what extent are individuals constrained by
society?
• How free are we to act and behave outside of
societal norms and values?
Part 2

Application to tourism
Marxist understanding of
tourism – linked to conflict theory
• Process of capitalism and industrialisation leads to a
state of alienation.
• The lack of fulfilment experienced though work in
modern life affects other aspects of our life.
• What then, is the role of tourism?
• Does alienation at work lead us to
seek self-fulfilment through leisure?
Marxist understanding of
tourism
• Tourism mirrors capitalist society
• Tourism is packaged, promoted and processed for
mass markets
• Tourism is consumed by the masses in a passive,
obedient and uncritical way.
• Tourism in capitalist societies is thus a form of social
control.
• Tourism is not free!
• Do you agree?
Weberian understanding of
tourism – linked to social action theory
• Individuals are now able to use leisure to construct
styles of life, which may become markers of their
social positions and identities (Veal 1989).
• “Through the lifestyles they construct people can
become almost whoever they want” (Roberts,
2006:166).
• The role of tourism in this? Examples?

Status/ Social
Leisure Lifestyle structure
identity
Tourism, lifestyle and
consumption
• Status is as much about symbols as material things.
• Consumption provides a language or code within
• which lifestyles are constructed.
• How we consume leisure and
tourism says something
about our lifestyles and identity.
Tourism, lifestyle and
consumption - semiotics

• Semiotics – the science of signs

• Everything has a function AND a meaning
• Semiotics is a method of reading objects so
we can decode the message.
• What we see (the function) is the signifier
• How we interpret what we see (the meaning)
is the signified
Semiotics: the science of signs

Signifier - Leaning Signified- Italy

Tower of Pisa
Semiotics: the science of signs

Signifier – Statue of Signified – America

Liberty
Semiotics: the science of signs

Signifier?
Signified?
Has tourism become mainly a
symbol of social identities? Signifier? Signified?
Part 3

Sociological research in tourism

Sociology of tourism
• E. Cohen (1984) has identified 4 main areas of
sociological research in tourism:
– The tourist
– Tourists and locals
– The development and structure of the tourist
system
– The impact of tourism
Example: A phenomenology
of the tourist experience
Modes of tourist experience (E. Cohen 1979)
• The recreational mode
• The diversionary mode
• The experiential mode
• The experimental mode
• The existential mode
– Examples?
– Problems?
E. Cohen’s typology and
backpacking experience
• Heterogeneous nature of the backpacking
experience
• Multi-type backpackers- display the features of
different types in following trips and even during
the same excursion (Uriely et al. 2002)

• Possible implications for tourist typologies?

• Do you think the same types can be found in
other forms of tourism?
E. Cohen’s typology and
deviant tourism
How can this typology explain these forms of
tourism?
Sociology and authenticity
in tourism
• Study of relationship between tourism and
(Western) modernity has been dominated by
questions of authenticity
MacCannell (1976)
‘The Tourist’
• Modern society is experienced as
inauthentic
• Tourists are on a quest for
authenticity
• Authenticity is found in ‘pre-
modern’ societies – in ‘traditional
lives’ (paradoxically this is pre-
capitalism and thus pre-tourism!)
• Modern society collects the pre-
modern in museums, heritage
centres and tourist destinations
 Staged authenticity
• MacCannell (1976) argued
moderns seek authenticity
outside modernity and locals
‘stage’ it for them
– ‘Frontstage’ / ’backstage’
• Tourists may be frustrated in their
search for authenticity by finding
experiences to be
staged/contrived
– Experiencing only what the tourism
industry or local people allow them
to see, often a repeated performance
E. Cohen (1979)
• Not all tourists are in search
of authenticity
• Some tourists are not
alienated and so seek
recreation
• In line with ideas of Urry
(1990) on the ‘post-tourist’
– contemporary tourists
into fun, hedonism, etc. and
the rise in artificial tourists
sites proves this
Emergent authenticity
• Authenticity as a negotiable process that can
develop over time (E. Cohen 1988)
• A product or event originally considered
inauthentic becomes perceived as authentic
– e.g. Disneyland, Las Vegas
• Allows for the emergence of
new cultural products
Tourism and modernity
(Wang 2000)
• Distinguished three types of authenticity
– Objective – from museum terminology, whether
objects or events are ‘genuine’, assumes
immutability
– Constructed – projection of society's’ perceptions
onto an object or event, product of social
construction, allows for emergent authenticity
– Existential (subjective) – individual perception of
an experience that is authentic to one’s ‘self’, can
be used to explain nature experiences, social
interactions with other tourists
Criticism of authenticity
• Post-modern turn in Western tourism
deconstructs boundary between copies and
originals
– Baudrillard (1994) denies existence of ‘originals’ in
a world that thrives on ‘simulacra’
• Rise of non-Western tourism – may not be driven
by a motive of authenticity
– Are you searching for authenticity?...
What is authentic in the UK?
Model Answer for Exam
Drawing on concepts of authenticity in tourism
research, critically analyse the use of authenticity as a
way of understanding contemporary tourism
motivations.
Marking Criteria  
Understanding of concepts of authenticity- e.g. staged authenticity, emergent /45
authenticity, objective/constructed/existential authenticity
Critical analysis of authenticity as a way of understanding tourism motivations – e.g. /35
culturally dependent, post-tourists and post-modern turn

Conclusions /10
Structure/Presentation /10
Total 100
Further reading on the
sociology of tourism

• Cohen, E. and Cohen, S.A. (2012). Current

sociological theories and issues in tourism.
Annals of Tourism Research, 39(4), 2177-2202.
• Cohen, S.A. & Cohen, E. (2019). New
directions in the sociology of tourism. Current
Issues in Tourism, 22(2), 153-172.
Additional readings
• Holden: Tourism studies and the social sciences. Chapter 2
• Cohen, E. (1979) A Phenomenology of Tourist Types. Sociology 13: 179-201.
• Cohen, E. (1984) The Sociology of Tourism: Approaches, Issues and Findings,
Annual Review of Sociology 10: 373-92.
• Cohen, E. (1988). Authenticity and commoditization in tourism. Annals of
Tourism Research, 15(3), 371-386.
• MacCannell, D. (1976). The tourist: A new theory of the leisure class. New York:
Schocken Books.
• Roberts (2006) Leisure in Contemporary Society. Chapter 7
• Stone & Sharpley (2008). Consuming Dark Tourism: A Thanatological
Perspective. Annals of Tourism Research 35(2): 574-595.
• Uriely et al (2002). Backpacking experiences: a type and form analysis. Annals
of Tourism Research 29(2), 520-538.
• Uriely & Belhassen (2005). Drugs and the Tourists’ Experience. Journal of
Travel Research 43: 238-246.
• Wang, N. (2000). Tourism and modernity: A sociological analysis. Oxford:
Pergamon Press.