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This book draws on the thought of Baudrillard to explore the effects of globalisation and tourism in a Thai context. Arguing that tourism does not necessarily erode local culture but that local culture can in fact be recreated through globalisation and tourism, the author employs studies of the Damnoen Saduk and Pattaya floating markets, showing them to be simulations of Thai culture that undergo changes of form, cultural content and activity, through various stages of representation. With a focus on the themes of the circulation of value and signs, the play of differences and orders of simulacra, this volume examines the extent to which Baudrillard’s theory can apply in a non-western context and in relation to tourism. A study of consumption, tourism and the relations between the global and the local, Globalisation, Tourism and Simulacra will appeal to scholars of sociology and geography with interests tourism, globalisation and social theory.
Throughout its history Siam and then later Thailand has shown remarkable resiliency, adaptability, and creativity in responding to serious threats and crises. This augurs well for Thailand’s capacity to deal with the serious problems described above and to flourish in the areas in which it has great potential and comparative advantage, such as food exports (“kitchen of the world”); diverse genres of tourism; health and wellness management; creative design; alternative energy sources (great potential of solar energy and e-vehicles); regional transportation hub (both rail and air); export growth and diversification; an attractive site for MICE; and as an international education hub. Thai...
Housing and Domestic Abuse provides an analysis of how housing policy has been historically utilised in responding to domestic abuse. The authors trace the history of policy from the feminist roots of the refuge movement, to the use of ‘anti-social behaviour’ legislation to address abuse, and the current proposals being considered. The UK government and devolved governments in Scotland and Wales are currently making significant changes to the ways they address domestic abuse, including involving housing policy in their responses. This book provide details of the differential approaches of the Scottish and Welsh governments and proposes a ‘whole housing approach’ to addressing abuse. Readers will gain a detailed knowledge of historic, and current policy and practice in this area. They will also benefit from insights from two of the leading scholars in their respective fields of housing and domestic abuse policy and practice. This book will be of interest to academics, policy makers and practitioners across the fields of housing and domestic abuse policy and practice, as well as students studying social policy more broadly.
Drawing together theoretical ideas from across the social sciences, Classifying Fashion, Fashioning Class examines how the fashion-class association has developed and, using the experiences of middle-and-working class British women, demonstrates how this relationship operates today. Though increasingly academics argue that contemporary class distinctions are made through cultural practices and tastes, few have fully explored just how individual’s fashion choices mobilise class and are used in class evaluations. Yet, an individual’s everyday dress is perhaps the most immediate marker of taste, and thus an important means of class distinction. This is particularly true for women, as their ...
As identity and authenticity discourses increasingly saturate everyday life, so too have these concepts spread across the humanities and social sciences literatures. Many scholars may be interested in identity and authenticity but lack knowledge of paradigmatic or disciplinary approaches to these concepts. This volume offers readers insight into social constructionist approaches to identity and authenticity. It focuses on the processes of identification and authentication, rather than on subjective experiences of selfhood. There are no attempts to settle what authentic identities are. On the contrary, contributors demonstrate that neither identities nor their authenticity have a single or fi...
This book chronicles the evolution of women’s participation in the labour force in Ireland over the last five decades. This was largely spearheaded by married women and mothers, leading to many related social issues including childcare, flexible working, the sharing of domestic work and work-life balance. The book presents empirical data on these topics, drawn from the author’s research spanning several decades, and shows how attitudes have evolved and influenced the development of social policy. The book begins by exploring the factors which predisposed some married women to enter the workplace in the early 1970s while most did not and examines the relative well-being of housewives and ...
Departing from the sociological dual process model that divides thoughts into automatic and unconscious, or deliberate and conscious occurrences, this book draws on empirical cases to demonstrate the existence of “automatic deliberation.” Through research into the ways in which people address difficult subjects, such as death and dying, pedophilia, and career decision-making, the author sheds light on a mode of thinking which is both habitual and effortful, displaying a combination of habituated understandings and conscious deliberation. Advancing a blended view of cognition by which individuals draw on schemas and frames to think through complex topics, this volume will appeal to sociologists and psychologists with interests in cognition and the ways in which we make decisions.
Fire Dancers in Thailand's Tourism Industry explores the evolution of fire dancing from informal community jam sessions into the iconic, tourist-oriented performances at beach parties and bars, through a close consideration of the role of affect in the lives of fire dancers in the ever-changing scene. Rather than pursuing the common notion that tourism industries are exploitative enterprises that oppress workers, Tiffany Rae Pollock centers the perspectives of fire artists themselves, who view the industry as simultaneously generative and destructive. Dancers reveal how they employ affect to navigate their lives, art, and labor in this context, showcasing how affect is not only a force that acts on people but also is used and shaped by social actors toward their own ends. Fire Dancers in Thailand's Tourism Industry highlights men as affective laborers, investigating how they manage the eroticization of their identities and the intersections of art and labor in tourist economies. Exploring moments of performance and everyday life, Pollock examines how fire artists reimagine their labor, lives, and communities in Thailand's tourism industry.
The Globalization of Nothing is back in a revised and completely updated edition, with an even greater emphasis on the processes of globalization and how they relate to McDonaldization. As before, this book is structured around four sets of concepts addressing the issues of: "places/non-places," "things/non-things," "people/non-people," and "services/non-services." By drawing upon salient examples from everyday life, George Ritzer invites the reader to examine the nuances of these concepts in conjunction with the paradoxes within the process of the globalization of nothing. Critical questions are raised throughout, and the reader is compelled not only to seek answers to these questions, but ...
The period known as Postmodernism is over. With it goes the pervasive cynicism, apathy, and nihilism that defined so much of American culture during the latter 20th century. Now, a new sensibility--called "Metamodernism" by an emerging consensus--has occasioned the return of various ideas long denigrated under Postmodernism, but also transformed by it. This Metamodern sensibility is characterized by a thorough reimagination of transcendence, and the exploration of new modes of depth and dimensionality for meeting the challenge of the contemporary meaning crisis. Such is the argument presented in this short but incisive text, as it tracks the development of this new period from the decline of Postmodernism to today. In addition, this analysis is supplemented by two accompanying essays that explore the Metamodern reconstruction of meaning through artistic mythmaking, with examples from contemporary art and literature.