SOC 344—Travel & Tourism in Social Context

Travel often seems like an opportunity for an exotic adventure, and tourism something we look forward to as a break from work. However, travel and tourism encompass much more than that. They are not simply experiences of personal value, they also have profound social, economic, political, historical, and environmental significance. This course addresses a range of sociological topics that address travel and tourism as both work and play: how tourist attractions are created, sold, and consumed; how narratives about place, history, and community are constructed and shape our understandings of the places that we visit and the people who inhabit them; the costs and benefits of tourist-driven economies, and how tourism re-enforces or erodes inequalities of race, class, gender, and national origin.