Current sociological theories and issues in tourism

Erik Cohen*, Scott A. Cohen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

384 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article reviews the changing nature of contemporary tourism and sociological approaches to its study. We examine the broad social trends and specific historical events that recently affected tourism and discuss how the focus of sociological inquiry in tourism studies shifted from earlier discourses of authenticity and the tourist gaze to three novel theoretical approaches, the mobilities "paradigm", the performativity approach and actor-network theory (ANT), which each reflect a broader meta-theoretical re-orientation in contemporary philosophy and sociology. We appraise these conceptual developments and discuss their limitations. We then identify several current research issues as important areas for problem-oriented work at the intersections of tourism and contemporary society: social justice, environmental sustainability, natural disasters, terrorism, heritage, embodiment and affect, and mediatization.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2177-2202
Number of pages26
JournalAnnals of Tourism Research
Volume39
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2012

Keywords

  • Actor-network theory
  • Authenticity
  • Current issues
  • Mobilities
  • Performativity
  • Social trends

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