Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Actor/agent
perspective
Individual values
Habit/experience
Social reference groups
Tourism structures
Institutionalized tourism
arrangements
Societal structures
Holiday travel rules and resources
Booking options
Travel infrastructure
Tourism
Practices
Source: Dickinson et al, 2010a, adapted from Spaargaren and van Vliet, 2000
Figure 3.1 A tourism social practice perspective
the benefits of tourism (Sharpley, 2009). Figure 3.1 contextualizes the social
practices approach within a tourism context.
Randles and Mander (2009b, p249) use Reckwitz's definition of a
practice:
A 'practice' [Praktik] is a routinized type of behaviour which
consists of several elements, interconnected to one another;
forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, 'things'
and their use, a background knowledge in the form of under-
standing, know-how, states of emotion and motivational
knowledge. A practice - a way of cooking, of consuming, or
working, of investigating, of taking care of oneself or others,
etc. - forms so to speak a 'block' whose existence necessarily
depends on the existence and specific interconnectedness of
these elements, and which cannot be reduced to any of those
single elements.
Within transport and tourism research, studies have examined individual
agency and the structures available, but tend to consider these as separate
attributes and analyse their relative role in travel decisions. Research rarely
focuses on the tourism practices that result from the interaction between the
two (Verbeek and Mommaas, 2007). For example, Becken (2007) refers to
internal factors (attitudes, values, habits and personal norms) and external fac-
tors (regulations, structural incentives or barriers, social factors) that influence
behaviour. While Anable and Gatersleben (2005) discuss instrumental (e.g.
costs, flexibility, convenience) and affective (e.g. feelings evoked by travelling
and sense of control) journey attributes. A social practices approach provides
a more integrated perspective as it argues that consumption practices co-
evolve through the interaction of people (actors/agents) and the structures
available (Randles and Mander, 2009a), and Chappells et al (2004) suggest
consumers and providers are involved in co-provision.
Spaargaren (2004) explains how a social practices model differs from atti-
tude-behaviour models in several ways. First, a social practices model places
actual behaviour practices at the centre, as opposed to individual attitude or
norm. Second, it focuses on groups of actors, rather than on specific isolated
behavioural items. Third, analyses take place in distinct domains of social life,
and explore agency in the context of specific systems of provision. Proponents
Search WWH ::




Custom Search