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The 'essentialist' sins of structuralist analyses?
There is a tendency amongst many 'critical tourism' scholars to engage in a sweeping dismissal
of the 'modernist Marxist analysis of generalising' (Ateljevic, 2000: 372). Typically, this
usually means Marx's 'base-superstructure' model (see Jack and Phipps, 2005: 18). Elsewhere
structuralist thinking, as evidenced in the work of Britton (1991), is accused of depicting
consumers (tourists) as lacking agency, duped by ' “the cultural clothing” of late capitalism'
(see Ateljevic, 2000: 375). In so far as we cannot read off the manifold meanings woven into
the consumption practices of tourists nor the diverse representations of place from the proc-
esses of (capitalist) production, such a critique is warranted. However, while Marx had little
to say about
cultural
expressions of power, in attempting to challenge the defi ciencies of struc-
turalist theorising, Ateljevic confl ates what amounts to an orthodox form of Marxism with
both the more subtle and nuanced aspects of Marx's work, as well as the radical critiques of
global capitalism which depart from such orthodoxy (e.g. Gill, 1993, 1995; Kiely, 1995; Cox,
1987, 2002; Rupert and Smith, 2002; de Angelis, 2007).
Not only have the limits of the 'base/superstructure' model been endlessly discussed and
critiqued within Marxian scholarship, such critiques represent a misunderstanding of Marx's
own thinking (see Kiely, 1995; Rattansi, 1985). Furthermore, one does not have to be an
'orthodox' (structural) Marxist in order to accept that consumption is structured by material
well-being, which is in turn related to one's position in the social relations of production
(Perrons, 1999: 92). Furthermore, in their attempts to avert any whiff of structuralist
thinking, 'critical turn' scholars seem to be unaware of certain proximities between their and
historical materialist analyses. For example, Ateljevic and Doorne (2003: 137) point out that,
'far from being disempowered by integration within an over-arching capitalist system',
women craft producers in China 'embraced the opportunities to infl uence their future and
that of their families'. Other than omitting to say that they do so under conditions not of their
own choosing, the fact that producers make choices based upon their particular livelihood
strategies and survival needs in an increasingly globalised and competitive tourist economy
does not contradict historical material analysis.
The exaggeration of the ostensibly 'essentialist' and 'reductionist' tendencies inherent in
structuralist, and in particular Marxian modes of theorising, is also apparent elsewhere. For
example, Aitchison (2001: 35) seeks to 'contribute to the development of gender and cultural
theory within tourism studies' which transcends the 'essentialist view of tourism relations'
whereby host societies are 'Othered' or otherwise regarded as 'subaltern' by the tourism
industry and tourists. Moreover, this disregards earlier critiques of the 'essentialist crimes' of
Tourism Studies. A decade earlier, sociologist Robert E. Wood (1993: 55) had already
commented that 'the general drift in the sociology of tourism has been away from universal
generalisations and towards an interest in documenting and explaining variation on the
cultural consequences of tourism'.
Where the 'critical turn' becomes particularly problematic is in its claim to be part of a
wider political project committed to enhancing social justice and equality. Often the 'Other'
is invoked in their writings; however, their voices are rarely heard (see Aitchison, 2001).
Moreover, given the emphasis on the contingent and dispersed nature of power it is diffi cult
to envisage where the kind of empowerment they envisage will come from. Often, it seems,
it appears tantamount to an emotional or spiritual quest rather than a genuinely political
project (Ateljevic
et al.
, 2007a: 4-5). To a large extent, this is symptomatic of the critique of
capitalist modernity from the 'postmodern left' and associated ideals of 'empowerment' which
have become a staple of the 'development industry' (Kamat, 2004), and are thus easily
