TY - JOUR
T1 - Current sociological theories and issues in tourism
AU - Cohen, Erik
AU - Cohen, Scott A.
PY - 2012/10
Y1 - 2012/10
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Actor-network theory
KW - Authenticity
KW - Current issues
KW - Mobilities
KW - Performativity
KW - Social trends
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867395832&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.annals.2012.07.009
DO - 10.1016/j.annals.2012.07.009
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.systematicreview???
AN - SCOPUS:84867395832
SN - 0160-7383
VL - 39
SP - 2177
EP - 2202
JO - Annals of Tourism Research
JF - Annals of Tourism Research
IS - 4
ER -