Sustainable Tourism, Sustainable Lifestyles and the Reflexive Subject

Dr Paul Hanna School of Applied Social Sciences P.Hanna@brighton.ac.uk

“Oh I can’t be bothered today as I am on holiday”

Introduction

The problem with the environment

Understanding sustainable behaviours

Sustainable tourism and the problem with space

Foucault, ethics and the reflexive self

Methodological overview

The invitation to take a break from ethics

Adopting the ‘tourist’ subjectivity

The struggles of being ethical

Critically reflecting on everyday practices

Critical reflection and reciprocal relationships

Conclusion and potential directions

The problem with the environment

“Human influence has been detected in warming of the atmosphere and the ocean, in changes in the global

water cycle, in reductions in snow and ice, in global mean sea level rise, and in changes in some climate extremes…It is extremely likely that human influence

has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century” (IPCC, 2013, p12)

Understanding sustainable behaviours

Mainstream social psychology:

Understands the self as ‘fixed’ (e.g. Roy Baumeister)

The self permeates through attitudes, values, personality and beliefs

Attitudes predict behaviours (e.g. Kraus 1995 Meta analysis)

Critical social approaches:

The self as a social being

Discursive economy and the construction of ethics (e.g. Wright, 2004)

Forms of distinction (Bourdieu, 1984)

Understanding sustainable behaviours

Social practices: ‘Decentre’ the individual – individual as a carrier of

practice’ (Shove, 2009, 2012) Ordered across time and space Habitus Focus on mundane practices

Sustainable lifestyles: A focus on the everyday Acknowledgement of ‘lifestyle groups’ Combination of attitudes, values, structural (e.g. recycling

provision) and situational (e.g. knowledge of recycling) (e.g. Gilg et al. 2005)

The individual and the social

Sustainable tourism and the problem with space

A focus on tourism:

worldwide pollution

natural resource depletion

areas being ‘developed’ for hotel complexes

global warming through transport

litter polluting areas of natural beauty

marine life being destroyed

host workers and local cultures being exploited as tourist attractions

(e.g. Hunter, 2002a, 2002b; France, 1997; Croall, 1995; Mowforth and Munt, 2003)

Sustainable tourism and the problem with space

Lifestyle choice and the holiday

The seaside as a liminal space (Doyle, 2010)

The normalised holiday in which individuals are invited to relax and forget about the trials and tribulations of everyday life (e.g. Keng & Cheng, 1999)

Transference of everyday sustainable practices to holiday context is problematic (Barr et al., 2010)

Implications for sustainable lifestyles?

Foucault, ethics and the reflexive subject

Foucault’s shift in thinking

Reconstitution of the subject

Knowing the Self vs Care of the self

The ‘other’

Reciprocal relationships

Foucault, ethics and the reflexive subject

Critical reflection

Ethics and Morality

Philosophy and Spirituality

Freedom and Resistance

The broader cosmos

“Get free of oneself” (Foucault, 1984)

Methodological overview

Study one – Promotional analysis

Using the internet

Selecting a case

Analytic framework

Study two – Sustainable tourists

Semi-structured interviews

Sample

Analytic framework

The invitation to take a break from ethics

Take the rest of day to relax and prepare for your adventure (NA 2)

After taking in the incredible views from the volcano we visit the Breeding Centre of the giant tortoise, the largest in Galapagos. That evening relax at the bar on the beach and enjoy a nice cold beer or cocktail (SA 1)

This hotel is the perfect place to relax after your busy tour around Borneo (AS 1)

Semi-precious stones such as amethyst and tourmaline can be found here at bargain prices…there are many interesting shops and craft centres here, and several excellent (and great value) seafood restaurants to choose from for your evening meal (AF 2)

Adopting the ‘tourist’ subjectivity

“most people umm want to spend their lives working and just want to relax [when on holiday]” (Amanda)

“you know it was quite far removed from daily life” (Celia)

“its just about escapism and just being somewhere else and it doesn’t really matter where you are as long as

your not in your day to day existence” (Ben)

The struggles of being ethical

“you know I mean we did have one night in a Raj Palace (..) and that was like a treat in the middle of the

holiday (h)” (Hannah)

“I was just a bit annoyed that I had you know (.) I decided not to fly but just wish I had flown because it

would have been so much easier” (Celia)

Critically reflecting on everyday practices

“(F) I noticed myself that when like I shower I turn the water off when I am not using it to save water

(P) yeah

(F) and I noticed myself I am in a hotel thinking oh I can’t be bothered today as I am on holiday

(P) um

(F) and then I am like god I can’t believe I even think that you know but there is a kind of sense where I think when I am on holiday I can just relax my standards”

(Francesca)

Critically reflecting on everyday practices

“um well I suppose trying to trying to trying to not be to not have too much umm kind of dissonance

between what I do at home and what I do when I go abroad really and umm yeah because I suppose I go

around kind of (..) you know going for organic stuff or going for fair trade stuff and that kind of thing and so

endeavouring to try and keep that keep that going when you know you are actually going to some of the countries where stuff comes from so to be mindful of

that really” (Jayne)

Critical reflection and reciprocal relationships

“we were interacting with the community out there...we did some umm trips out to villages and some people you know

some people there had never even see a white person before...I was really aware of how special that was and that we did need to control the interaction really carefully and we went and did solar stoves you know setting up solar

stoves in this village and its just some of the situations we found ourselves in was so remote from our lives here in

London because we both live and work in London...everybody there you know wanted to talk to us

and to find out about our lives here and to talk about their lives and it was just um really cool” (Julie)

Critical reflection and reciprocal relationships

“I had actually come to feel I owed them something’ (Anna)

“like not taking photos if people who don’t want their photos taken and not being too patronizing like giving gifts like taking

pencils because you are going to a developing country” (Francesca)

“We were outdoors like all the time, very kind of you know surrounded by nature, and one of the main things I got out of the holiday was like really, like feeling a real kind of affinity with all things natural like a lot of the time we were sleeping in tents, and

there was like this massive thunder storm, I have never felt so much in the thunder storm. Another thing that stood out was the butterflies, millions of butterflies there and the just kind of land

on you all the time like it was those kind of unique, natural experiences” (Celia)

Conclusion and potential directions

Potential to offer sustainable lifestyles research spatial, reflexive and affective elements

Suggested alternative to the individualist, consumerist understanding of the self

Implications for equality and wellbeing

Future nature based sports research and beyond