The tourist gaze - John Urry

Drawing an analogy with Foucaults concept of the gaze, this book focuses on the `tourist gaze: that there are systematic ways of `seeing what we as tourists look at, and that these ways of seeing can be described and explained. Urry develops this analysis through various levels - historical, economic, social, cultural and visual.

Mass tourism is charted from its origins in the English seaside resorts to its development as a global industry. The economic impact and complex social relations involved in international tourism are explored. Changing patterns of tourism are shown to be connected to the broader cultural changes of postmodernism and related to the role of the service and middle classes. The author argues that we are seeing a universalization of the tourist gaze and increasing confusion between `tourism as it is conventionally understood and a host of other social practices - shopping, sport, culture, hobbies, leisure and education.