A field theoretical discovery of the tourism industry

Sociologists have been primarily concerned with tourism as a phenomenon of consumption rather than production. This has led to a neglect of the production of touristic services even though the tourism industry has become one of the largest economic sectors in the world. The sociological consumption-fetish is seen as a result of the complex nature of the tourism industry and the dominance of micro-sociological theories in the research field of tourism. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social fields will be introduced as a different theoretical approach to the study of tourism. Field theory is particularly well suited to grasp the differentiated nature of the tourism industry because it provides the concepts to analyze the cultural logics and intertwined power structures of interrelated webs of relations. Field theory hence shifts the focus from social interactions to social relations. The potential of field theory will be exemplified through the case of New York City as a touristic industrial field. Furthermore, the contours of the USA as a national touristic field and its relation to the global field of tourism will be sketched out.