Journeys in the network society: Spiders, ants and archipelagos

This viewpoint paper aims to analyse the increasingly crucial role of networks in leisure and tourism. It considers different ways of understanding networks, drawing on the work of Tim Ingold and Randall Collins. In particular, it assesses the use of different metaphors for network builders, including Ingold’s reflections on ants and spiders, and introduces the idea of archipelagos as a conceptual frame for networks. Since Manuel Castells coined the phrase ‘network society’ in his 1996 opus, the rise of the Internet and social media has made his vision a global reality. We are increasingly connected to people and places across the world, and this has also transformed the way that we work, travel, and enjoy leisure. This paper considers the role of networks in contemporary society and how these are conceived in the fields of tourism and leisure. One paradox of the network society is that broadening connections serve to narrow our view, reflected in research networks by the increasing dominance of English and an Anglo-Saxon research culture. We pay attention to the relationship between different network forms and effects, and what ‘makes things happen’ in networks. Building on Ingold’s (2008) metaphors of the ANT and the SPIDER as network-makers, we introduce the Archipelago as a new way of thinking about networks that reflects the reciprocal creation of network value.