- Email: [email protected]
The sociology of tourism: European origins and developments
Tourism Management 32 (2011) 700–707
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman
Book Reviews The sociology of tourism: European origins and developments, G.M.S. Dann, G.L. Parrinello (Eds.), Tourism social science series, Vol. 12. Emerald (2009). xiv D 466 pp. (tables, index) ISBN 9781846639883, £84.95 (Hbk) The Sociology of Tourism is an edited work by Graham Dann and Giuli Liebman Parrinello. I liked this book although I must admit to being initially doubtful upon glancing at the book’s organisation which is based on country of origin rather than theoretical derivation. However, the first chapter which is an excellent piece of scholarship convinced me of the worth of the approach and provided me with the first conceptual mapping of the sociology of tourism in a manner that manages to place all the major theorists in tourism in relation to the discipline of sociology sourced to country of derivation. The editors have constructed a much needed addition to the literature with this book and the scope of the project allows an academic understanding of this field by professionals and students alike and should be read by all those interested in tourism studies. As with most edited books the standard of the chapters and degrees of scholarship vary: however overall the editors and contributors should be commended, as much of the focus and writing is from a sociological perspective and it provides an excellent reference tool for use in both teaching and research. It does succeed in its ability to move beyond the Anglophone focus of the sociology of tourism and this is also a measure of the book’s ability to provide a more comprehensive mapping of the development of the field. That said, I cannot see why the United Kingdom is not represented by a chapter in the book at least to provide despite the editors explicit aim in seeking to avoid ‘The Anglophone dominance of tourism studies today’ (p. 3), yet its influence as a key reference point is notes by the editors: ‘The English language as a contested vehicle of communication has to be accepted and understood with all the provisos of the still existing scientific vitality of European tongues’ (2009: p. 342). The book ‘traces the origins of the sociology of tourism to Europe in the 1930s and the wide range of it early conceptualisation’ (2009: p. 1) and provides the reader with a mapping of the history of comparative social theories and their first appearances in various European counties. This history is linked with general sociology and its main paradigms while also considering ‘the socio-political, economic; geographic; cultural, and ideological contexts in which they arose, including the working conditions under which the sociologist of tourism lived.’ (2009: p. 2). The book contains 11 chapters from 12 contributors ‘representing European countries stretching from the Arctic Circle in the North to the Sea of Candia in the South’ (2009: p. xv). The first chapter from the editors, ‘Setting the Scene,’ is a remarkable achievement as an overview its expansive incorporation of the theories and countries in a concise manner demonstrates scholarship of a very high degree. The depth and intricate mapping of the origins of the underlying sociological ideas in tourism provides the reader with a good knowledge of the area and a framework to read the book, it is both readable and clear.
Chapter Two, Tourism Research and Theory in German-Speaking Countries by Hasso Spode is an interesting insight into the evolution of tourism in these countries and the establishment of ‘Tourism Science’ (p. 72) and the antecedents of more recognized theoretical models for example Walther Christaller’s (1955) ‘center’ to ‘periphery’ conceptualisation, ‘long before Butler’s theory-developed a model for the evolutionary lifecycle of resorts’ (2009: p. 73). The chapter goes on to provide various other organisational and individual contributions to the study of tourism in these counties and their contributions and has given us the ‘the grand theories or “narratives” of the tourism social sciences, it also traces the development of applied tourism science’ (2009: p. 89). Chapter Three, the ‘Roots of the Sociology of Tourism in France’ by Marie Francoise Lanfant is a reflective account of the development of tourism in France. It is a mix of description and theoretical links arguing that under ‘the caption “sociology of tourism” we find a mixed assortment of different topics bearing apparently little or no relationship with tourism in the usual sense of the word’ (2009: p. 97). It demonstrates well the wide array of subject matter that can be included under the banner of sociology and as with most tourism theory she finds that ‘[t]here are plenty of descriptive studies without theoretical referents, texts expressing opinions devoid of critical reflection, definitions of tourism which are either products of the imagination or normalized by tourist practices’ (2009: p. 98). An acknowledgement is made here as to how the sociology of leisure ‘freed scholars from the sociology of work and the whole conceptual apparatus that went with it’ (2009: p. 113) and from this foundation the sociology of tourism was built with an acknowledgement to Dumazedier’s contribution and the link between the study of leisure and tourism. The links to Saint-Simon, Comte and Durkheim and to Gurvitch an dAron, Natville, Lefebvre, Morin, Burgelin, Bathes, and Baudrillard also give testimony to the strength in the foundations of this field in France. Chapter Four, ‘Tourism in Italian Sociological Thought and Study’ by Asterio Savelli shows that was no specific study of the sociology of tourism in Italy until the end of the 1960s and 1970s and its development was based around the local industry and then its expansion both conceptually and theoretically to the point where it is now ‘increasingly open to mobility and innovation in tourism’ (2009: p. 167). Chapter Five, ‘The Sociology of Tourism in Poland’ by Krzysztof Przeclawski and Julian Bystrzanowski is an applied chapter showing ‘the development of the sociology of tourism is rooted in cultural identify and influenced by the historical developments of nation’ (2009: p. 194) as such it is an interesting insight into this nation and its history. Chapter Six, ‘Tourism theory in the former Yugoslavia,’ by Boris Vukonic, provides an explanation of why both tourism and tourism theory was so late to develop in Yugoslavia and was so diverse and lacking in common themes with diverse political and geographical developments influencing its development. Chapter Seven, ‘Early Tourism Research in Scandinavia,’ by Jens Kr. Steen Jacobsen, is a chronological account of the early works of the scholars in
Book Reviews / Tourism Management 32 (2011) 700–707
tourism in Scandinavia with its origins in empirical science but expanding to include ethnology and anthropology. It shows how some of the early ideas proceeded many of those by Anglophone scholars but the ‘field of tourism is less clearly demarcated than many larger thematic field’ (2009: p. 242). Chapter 8, ‘The Sociology of Tourism in Spain: A Tale of Three Wise Men’ by Julio Aramberri, uses the work of three pioneers of Spanish tourism theory to tie its discussion together and emphasizing how originally the exclusion of outside ideas created a barrier to the development of this field and has not allowed these three pioneers work to be recognized. It suggests that Spain’s focus on ‘hard economic analysis’ (p. 273) over other ideas and approaches including by its journal Revista de Estudios Turisticos (RET) also limited the development of a sociology of tourism. Chapter Nine, ‘Tourism Studies in Belgium and the Netherlands by Jaap Lengkeek, also shows how tourism was once a part of leisure studies and evolved in the last two decades to become a substantive scientific field in its own right suggesting a bright future. Chapter Ten, ‘The Sociology and Anthropology of Tourism in Greece,’ by Paris Tsartas and Vasilki Galani-Moutafi suggests the lack of presence in universities of sociology and anthropology until the 1970s saw a lack of development of the study of tourism and even then as a ‘peripheral subject’ (2009: p. 300) and so works examining the phenomenon of tourism are low in number and lack the ‘broader, interdisciplinary theoretical debates and paradigms from the Anglophone world’ (2009: p. 321). Chapter Eleven, ‘Origins and developments: The Overall Picture’ by the editors, is a short summary of the book although somewhat of a repeat of the overview by country in the introductory chapter. However, I did enjoy the section on trends in origins and developments discussion and categorisation of the theories and discussion of how it all might be viewed. Any aspiring student of the field of tourism should read this book it is a invaluable aid in contextualising this field both within sociology and as a field of study. Without doubt it is an academic work of some scholarship and is a useful and welcome addition to the area of tourism for students and practitioners alike who should find it to be stimulating and insightful when doing work in this area. Stephen Wearing School of Leisure Sport and Tourism, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia E-mail address: [email protected]. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2010.05.017
Tourism and responsibility: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean, M. Mowforth, C. Charlton, and I. Munt. (1st ed.). Routledge, London and New York (2008). Cost: (pbk £24.99) Mowforth and Munt’s previous work on Tourism and Sustainability (Routledge, 1998) has gone to second and third editions in 2003 and 2009 and has become a standard text on undergraduate and Masters courses because of its engagement with the issues of power and the politics of underdevelopment. Their work has addressed the issue of sustainability in Third World countries and challenged the prevailing orthodoxy, pointing to uneven and unequal development, the significance of power relationships and the negative consequences of globalisation. The text is still in print demonstrating it continuing utility in addressing, in an accessible way, the critical questions about the contribution which tourism can make to development.
701
In Tourism and Responsibility: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean, Mowforth and Munt are joined by Clive Charlton, like Mowforth a geographer at Plymouth. Charlton brings a focus on Latin America to the book. This book applies Mowforth and Munt’s critical approach to the issue of tourism and development in South America and the Caribbean and extends the scope of the case studies available in the tourism literature. It should be added to reading lists for this reason alone, as there is too little consideration of Latin America in the study of tourism in the English language. The focus on Latin America and the Caribbean may also assist in ensuring that tourism is addressed in development and area studies courses focussed on the region. This is an issues based book focussed on Latin America and the Caribbean. The introduction includes a brief discussion of responsibility, sustainability and ethics and makes the obvious but often neglected point that these are relative concepts - it is relative to the values of those who are engaged in tourism as consumers or providers, and the values and perspectives of those involved which differ according to their role and their culture. The authors limit themselves to highlighting the different perspectives of tourists and holidaymakers, hoteliers, local communities, tour operators and indigenous groups, rather than judging them. As they point out there is a broad spectrum of engagement, in part a consequence of structures of power and privilege, with these issues and concepts like ethical, sustainable and responsibility occupying a continuum. The authors have pulled together various themes relating to tourism and development in the region and the book is intended for those who have visited, intend to visit, or have an interest in the region, raising issues about sustainability and responsibility. The book is intended to stimulate thought amongst travellers, academics from a range of disciplines, governments, NGOs and intergovernmental agencies. They point out that this is an issues based book; it is neither an academic text nor a text book. Its value is in raising issues too often not addressed in the text books and raising some of the fundamental questions about the political economy of the industry and the activities of tourists. For example, in Chapter Two, the authors discuss global politics, power and play, looking at the political history of tourism development in the region, the idea of development and the link with the Millennium Development Goals, tourism, free trade and the implications of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. They conclude by looking at some mitigating measures: self-regulation, fair trade, codes of conduct and Corporate Social Responsibility. In the next chapter on local politics, poverty and tourism: the micro level of responsibility, the focus is on poverty reduction through tourism, but there is little on local governance or responsibility. The fourth chapter addresses environment citing the UNWTO’s 2001 definition of sustainable tourism rather than the more useful and robust 2004 conceptual definition which refers explicitly to the need for political leadership. They address mass tourism using Mexico as an example of the difficulty of containing resort development and domestic tourism with examples from Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. The chapter on tourism and indigenous people addresses diversification, assimilation, zooification and transculturation; as well as pointing out that the alternative, new, tourists shoot the locals too, like the mass tourists they use cameras with zoom lenses to get their trophy photographs. In the chapter on urban tourism there is a useful discussion of the role of tourism and slums in cities and the scope for pro-poor city tourism, an area neglected by academics and practitioners alike. Chapter seven considers sexual exploitation through tourism in Latin America, pointing to the way in which it reflects power relationships and include a section on women sex tourists. Mowforth and Munt’s work, here extended to Latin America with Charlton, is important because it reminds us of the relationships of
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman
Book Reviews The sociology of tourism: European origins and developments, G.M.S. Dann, G.L. Parrinello (Eds.), Tourism social science series, Vol. 12. Emerald (2009). xiv D 466 pp. (tables, index) ISBN 9781846639883, £84.95 (Hbk) The Sociology of Tourism is an edited work by Graham Dann and Giuli Liebman Parrinello. I liked this book although I must admit to being initially doubtful upon glancing at the book’s organisation which is based on country of origin rather than theoretical derivation. However, the first chapter which is an excellent piece of scholarship convinced me of the worth of the approach and provided me with the first conceptual mapping of the sociology of tourism in a manner that manages to place all the major theorists in tourism in relation to the discipline of sociology sourced to country of derivation. The editors have constructed a much needed addition to the literature with this book and the scope of the project allows an academic understanding of this field by professionals and students alike and should be read by all those interested in tourism studies. As with most edited books the standard of the chapters and degrees of scholarship vary: however overall the editors and contributors should be commended, as much of the focus and writing is from a sociological perspective and it provides an excellent reference tool for use in both teaching and research. It does succeed in its ability to move beyond the Anglophone focus of the sociology of tourism and this is also a measure of the book’s ability to provide a more comprehensive mapping of the development of the field. That said, I cannot see why the United Kingdom is not represented by a chapter in the book at least to provide despite the editors explicit aim in seeking to avoid ‘The Anglophone dominance of tourism studies today’ (p. 3), yet its influence as a key reference point is notes by the editors: ‘The English language as a contested vehicle of communication has to be accepted and understood with all the provisos of the still existing scientific vitality of European tongues’ (2009: p. 342). The book ‘traces the origins of the sociology of tourism to Europe in the 1930s and the wide range of it early conceptualisation’ (2009: p. 1) and provides the reader with a mapping of the history of comparative social theories and their first appearances in various European counties. This history is linked with general sociology and its main paradigms while also considering ‘the socio-political, economic; geographic; cultural, and ideological contexts in which they arose, including the working conditions under which the sociologist of tourism lived.’ (2009: p. 2). The book contains 11 chapters from 12 contributors ‘representing European countries stretching from the Arctic Circle in the North to the Sea of Candia in the South’ (2009: p. xv). The first chapter from the editors, ‘Setting the Scene,’ is a remarkable achievement as an overview its expansive incorporation of the theories and countries in a concise manner demonstrates scholarship of a very high degree. The depth and intricate mapping of the origins of the underlying sociological ideas in tourism provides the reader with a good knowledge of the area and a framework to read the book, it is both readable and clear.
Chapter Two, Tourism Research and Theory in German-Speaking Countries by Hasso Spode is an interesting insight into the evolution of tourism in these countries and the establishment of ‘Tourism Science’ (p. 72) and the antecedents of more recognized theoretical models for example Walther Christaller’s (1955) ‘center’ to ‘periphery’ conceptualisation, ‘long before Butler’s theory-developed a model for the evolutionary lifecycle of resorts’ (2009: p. 73). The chapter goes on to provide various other organisational and individual contributions to the study of tourism in these counties and their contributions and has given us the ‘the grand theories or “narratives” of the tourism social sciences, it also traces the development of applied tourism science’ (2009: p. 89). Chapter Three, the ‘Roots of the Sociology of Tourism in France’ by Marie Francoise Lanfant is a reflective account of the development of tourism in France. It is a mix of description and theoretical links arguing that under ‘the caption “sociology of tourism” we find a mixed assortment of different topics bearing apparently little or no relationship with tourism in the usual sense of the word’ (2009: p. 97). It demonstrates well the wide array of subject matter that can be included under the banner of sociology and as with most tourism theory she finds that ‘[t]here are plenty of descriptive studies without theoretical referents, texts expressing opinions devoid of critical reflection, definitions of tourism which are either products of the imagination or normalized by tourist practices’ (2009: p. 98). An acknowledgement is made here as to how the sociology of leisure ‘freed scholars from the sociology of work and the whole conceptual apparatus that went with it’ (2009: p. 113) and from this foundation the sociology of tourism was built with an acknowledgement to Dumazedier’s contribution and the link between the study of leisure and tourism. The links to Saint-Simon, Comte and Durkheim and to Gurvitch an dAron, Natville, Lefebvre, Morin, Burgelin, Bathes, and Baudrillard also give testimony to the strength in the foundations of this field in France. Chapter Four, ‘Tourism in Italian Sociological Thought and Study’ by Asterio Savelli shows that was no specific study of the sociology of tourism in Italy until the end of the 1960s and 1970s and its development was based around the local industry and then its expansion both conceptually and theoretically to the point where it is now ‘increasingly open to mobility and innovation in tourism’ (2009: p. 167). Chapter Five, ‘The Sociology of Tourism in Poland’ by Krzysztof Przeclawski and Julian Bystrzanowski is an applied chapter showing ‘the development of the sociology of tourism is rooted in cultural identify and influenced by the historical developments of nation’ (2009: p. 194) as such it is an interesting insight into this nation and its history. Chapter Six, ‘Tourism theory in the former Yugoslavia,’ by Boris Vukonic, provides an explanation of why both tourism and tourism theory was so late to develop in Yugoslavia and was so diverse and lacking in common themes with diverse political and geographical developments influencing its development. Chapter Seven, ‘Early Tourism Research in Scandinavia,’ by Jens Kr. Steen Jacobsen, is a chronological account of the early works of the scholars in
Book Reviews / Tourism Management 32 (2011) 700–707
tourism in Scandinavia with its origins in empirical science but expanding to include ethnology and anthropology. It shows how some of the early ideas proceeded many of those by Anglophone scholars but the ‘field of tourism is less clearly demarcated than many larger thematic field’ (2009: p. 242). Chapter 8, ‘The Sociology of Tourism in Spain: A Tale of Three Wise Men’ by Julio Aramberri, uses the work of three pioneers of Spanish tourism theory to tie its discussion together and emphasizing how originally the exclusion of outside ideas created a barrier to the development of this field and has not allowed these three pioneers work to be recognized. It suggests that Spain’s focus on ‘hard economic analysis’ (p. 273) over other ideas and approaches including by its journal Revista de Estudios Turisticos (RET) also limited the development of a sociology of tourism. Chapter Nine, ‘Tourism Studies in Belgium and the Netherlands by Jaap Lengkeek, also shows how tourism was once a part of leisure studies and evolved in the last two decades to become a substantive scientific field in its own right suggesting a bright future. Chapter Ten, ‘The Sociology and Anthropology of Tourism in Greece,’ by Paris Tsartas and Vasilki Galani-Moutafi suggests the lack of presence in universities of sociology and anthropology until the 1970s saw a lack of development of the study of tourism and even then as a ‘peripheral subject’ (2009: p. 300) and so works examining the phenomenon of tourism are low in number and lack the ‘broader, interdisciplinary theoretical debates and paradigms from the Anglophone world’ (2009: p. 321). Chapter Eleven, ‘Origins and developments: The Overall Picture’ by the editors, is a short summary of the book although somewhat of a repeat of the overview by country in the introductory chapter. However, I did enjoy the section on trends in origins and developments discussion and categorisation of the theories and discussion of how it all might be viewed. Any aspiring student of the field of tourism should read this book it is a invaluable aid in contextualising this field both within sociology and as a field of study. Without doubt it is an academic work of some scholarship and is a useful and welcome addition to the area of tourism for students and practitioners alike who should find it to be stimulating and insightful when doing work in this area. Stephen Wearing School of Leisure Sport and Tourism, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia E-mail address: [email protected]. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2010.05.017
Tourism and responsibility: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean, M. Mowforth, C. Charlton, and I. Munt. (1st ed.). Routledge, London and New York (2008). Cost: (pbk £24.99) Mowforth and Munt’s previous work on Tourism and Sustainability (Routledge, 1998) has gone to second and third editions in 2003 and 2009 and has become a standard text on undergraduate and Masters courses because of its engagement with the issues of power and the politics of underdevelopment. Their work has addressed the issue of sustainability in Third World countries and challenged the prevailing orthodoxy, pointing to uneven and unequal development, the significance of power relationships and the negative consequences of globalisation. The text is still in print demonstrating it continuing utility in addressing, in an accessible way, the critical questions about the contribution which tourism can make to development.
701
In Tourism and Responsibility: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean, Mowforth and Munt are joined by Clive Charlton, like Mowforth a geographer at Plymouth. Charlton brings a focus on Latin America to the book. This book applies Mowforth and Munt’s critical approach to the issue of tourism and development in South America and the Caribbean and extends the scope of the case studies available in the tourism literature. It should be added to reading lists for this reason alone, as there is too little consideration of Latin America in the study of tourism in the English language. The focus on Latin America and the Caribbean may also assist in ensuring that tourism is addressed in development and area studies courses focussed on the region. This is an issues based book focussed on Latin America and the Caribbean. The introduction includes a brief discussion of responsibility, sustainability and ethics and makes the obvious but often neglected point that these are relative concepts - it is relative to the values of those who are engaged in tourism as consumers or providers, and the values and perspectives of those involved which differ according to their role and their culture. The authors limit themselves to highlighting the different perspectives of tourists and holidaymakers, hoteliers, local communities, tour operators and indigenous groups, rather than judging them. As they point out there is a broad spectrum of engagement, in part a consequence of structures of power and privilege, with these issues and concepts like ethical, sustainable and responsibility occupying a continuum. The authors have pulled together various themes relating to tourism and development in the region and the book is intended for those who have visited, intend to visit, or have an interest in the region, raising issues about sustainability and responsibility. The book is intended to stimulate thought amongst travellers, academics from a range of disciplines, governments, NGOs and intergovernmental agencies. They point out that this is an issues based book; it is neither an academic text nor a text book. Its value is in raising issues too often not addressed in the text books and raising some of the fundamental questions about the political economy of the industry and the activities of tourists. For example, in Chapter Two, the authors discuss global politics, power and play, looking at the political history of tourism development in the region, the idea of development and the link with the Millennium Development Goals, tourism, free trade and the implications of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. They conclude by looking at some mitigating measures: self-regulation, fair trade, codes of conduct and Corporate Social Responsibility. In the next chapter on local politics, poverty and tourism: the micro level of responsibility, the focus is on poverty reduction through tourism, but there is little on local governance or responsibility. The fourth chapter addresses environment citing the UNWTO’s 2001 definition of sustainable tourism rather than the more useful and robust 2004 conceptual definition which refers explicitly to the need for political leadership. They address mass tourism using Mexico as an example of the difficulty of containing resort development and domestic tourism with examples from Colombia, Mexico and Argentina. The chapter on tourism and indigenous people addresses diversification, assimilation, zooification and transculturation; as well as pointing out that the alternative, new, tourists shoot the locals too, like the mass tourists they use cameras with zoom lenses to get their trophy photographs. In the chapter on urban tourism there is a useful discussion of the role of tourism and slums in cities and the scope for pro-poor city tourism, an area neglected by academics and practitioners alike. Chapter seven considers sexual exploitation through tourism in Latin America, pointing to the way in which it reflects power relationships and include a section on women sex tourists. Mowforth and Munt’s work, here extended to Latin America with Charlton, is important because it reminds us of the relationships of