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There is a wealth of case study material on tourism from a variety of different disciplines, but few attempts to synthesise the broad themes into a coherent analytical framework. This book addresses this problem by analysing tourism in light of contemporary social theory. By focusing on tourism in terms of consumption, commodification, and the political and cultural economy, the relationships between tourism, globalisation, people and place are explored in an empirically grounded but theoretically informed analysis.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• List of Tables(p. viii)
• List of Abbreviations(p. ix)
• Acknowledgements(p. x)
• 1 Theorising Tourism(p. 1)
• Introduction: why theory?(p. 1)
• Conceptualising modernity(p. 6)
• Tourist spaces of modernity(p. 9)
• Theorising tourism and modernity(p. 11)
• Plan of the book(p. 13)
• 2 Creating Tourist Spaces: from Modernity to Globalisation(p. 16)
• Introduction(p. 16)
• Restructuring space(p. 17)
• Revitalising urban space(p. 20)
• Postmodernism, place and aesthetics(p. 25)
• Globalisation(p. 33)
• A symbolic economy of space(p. 36)
• Conclusion(p. 39)
• 3 Tourism Development and the Political Economy(p. 41)
• Introduction(p. 41)
• Tourism: modernisation or underdevelopment?(p. 42)
• Globalisation and economic deregulation(p. 49)
• Tourism multinationals(p. 50)
• Mediating globalisation: power and policies(p. 53)
• Localising development(p. 56)
• Conclusion(p. 64)
• 4 Tourism: Modernity and Consumption(p. 66)
• Introduction(p. 66)
• Production--Consumption(p. 68)
• Marketing and niches(p. 72)
• Control or choice?(p. 74)
• The consuming gaze?(p. 81)
• Narratives of place and consumption(p. 84)
• Conclusion(p. 87)
• 5 Authenticity and Heritage(p. 90)
• Introduction(p. 90)
• Authenticity, alienation and the 'exotic other'(p. 91)
• Tradition and heritage(p. 95)
• Imagined pasts, imagined places(p. 98)
• The politics of heritage(p. 99)
• Global heritage(p. 102)
• More than entertaining nostalgia?(p. 104)
• Consuming heritage: places and objects(p. 107)
• Conclusion(p. 111)
• 6 Whose Culture?(p. 114)
• Introduction(p. 114)
• Culture(p. 115)
• Global culture?(p. 117)
• Tourism and culture: homogeneity or heterogeneity?(p. 121)
• What is cultural tourism?(p. 127)
• Other people, other cultures(p. 129)
• The politics of cultural tourism(p. 130)
• Conclusion: culture and commodification(p. 135)
• 7 Whose Place? Tourism, People and Change(p. 138)
• Introduction(p. 138)
• Place and identity(p. 139)
• Tourism impacts(p. 143)
• Gender and work(p. 147)
• Creating and maintaining boundaries(p. 151)
• Mediating the boundaries(p. 153)
• Acting it out: ritual, place and tourism(p. 156)
• Conclusion(p. 160)
• 8 Place, Culture and Consumption(p. 163)
• Modernity, utopia and dystopia(p. 163)
• Accounting for globalisation(p. 166)
• A symbolic economy of space(p. 168)
• Towards a future research agenda(p. 169)
• A methodological note(p. 172)
• Appendix Suggested Further Reading(p. 174)
• Bibliography(p. 177)
• Index(p. 208)

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CHOICE Review

As tourism continues its apparently inexorable rise as a major motor of the world economy, substantial criticisms continue to mount. Many of these relate to the fact that tourism is the only economic show in town for many of the world's less developed countries and that as tourism revenues continue to be heavily courted, traditional cultural values are increasingly being sacrificed. Numerous books in recent years have bemoaned this process, often featuring "bleeding heart" narratives of declining cultures in the wake of insensitive tourism. Meethan (Univ. of Plymouth, UK) offers an interesting and thoughtful corrective to this point of view, noting that the globalization and commodification (loaded words to be sure) of tourism reflect only one aspect of ongoing cultural evolution and that local initiatives and processes are equally responsible for the alteration of cultural landscapes. This is not an easy book. The writing style in many places is virtually opaque, as if analysis of a "feel good" industry such as tourism cannot be taken seriously without passing through a dense semantic jungle. Nonetheless, this work offers an excellent review of the current theoretical literature of tourism and provides insights that will stimulate both additional research and further controversy. Most appropriate for graduate and research collections. J. R. McDonald emeritus, Eastern Michigan University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Kevin Meethan is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Plymouth.