91658 - Sociology Of Tourism And Territory Development

Learning outcomes

The student acquires theoretical and empirical elements for the sociological analysis of the rise, diffusion and change of tourism, as well as on the relation between tourism and local development. In particular, the student acquires theories and techniques for the analysis of the tourist: his motivations, his attitudes, and his behaviors. He also acquires elements about the models of use of territorial resources, services and tourist products.

Course contents

The following topics will be considered:

• Travel as a change in personality and social relations;
• Sense of belonging and exclusion, of meeting and exchange among different groups;
• The birth and developmnet of modern tourism; the change in the relation between individual and society, and the change of social representation of spare time (in particular, the transition from pre-industrial to industrial and post-industrial society will be a key-concept of the course);
• Sociologial interpretations of tourist behaviour;
• An emerging connection between work and spare time, and new meanings related to travel;
• Travel motivations and holiday images today;
• Seaside tourism, its history and social meanings;
• Research methods and techniques for the sociology of tourism (motivations, entrepreneurial strategies) ;
• Iconography about the connection between tourism and territory.

Readings/Bibliography

A. Savelli, Sociologia del turismo, Hoepli, Milano, 2012.

Further material uploaded on IOL.

Teaching methods

The course is based on lectures and seminars with guests. It also includes the use of Powerpoint slides as well as videos that will be discussed at class.

Assessment methods

The assessment methods consist on an written exam in the last lesson of the course about the material indicated in the "Readings/Bibliography" section (3 open questions, 60 minutes).

Students who do not take the written exam will have an oral interview on the same program in one of the exams after the end of the course.

Students can also present class works in groups of 3-5 people during the course, on topics related to the course and agreed with the teacher. This part will receive an evaluation from 0 to 2 points, which will be added to the mark obtained in the exam.

The lesson of February 28 will be focused on group works. The groups must be formed directly by the students and communicated to the teacher by March 13 by e-mail, together with an abstract (2000-2500 characters including spaces) on the topic, the aim, the research tools and three bibliographical references. The work will be presented in one of the lessons between April 15 and April 16 (15-20 minutes per group plus 10-15 minutes of debate); all students in the group must be present and are requested to make a part of the presentation. The slides used for the presentation will be given to the teacher who will upload them on IOL to make them available to all the other students.

NB: If the average note results with decimals, it is rounded upwards (Example: 27.5 becomes 28).

Office hours

See the website of Gabriele Manella