Chapter 1 Introduction Tourism Studies and Criminology
DOI: 10.23912/978-1-906884-14-7-1271 | ISBN: 978-1-906884-14-7 |
Published: September 2010 | Component type: chapter |
Published in: Tourism and Crime | Parent DOI: 10.23912/978-1-906884-14-7-1148 |
Abstract
The ambition of this book is to begin a project that on the face of it might appear somewhat baffling. Holidays are surrounded by images that convey an escape; a promise of freedom from the pressures and problems of everyday ‘normal’ life. Be
it idyllic seascapes, soaring mountains, luxurious therapies, adrenaline-pumping extreme rides, or monumental cultural icons, the images suggest that on holiday we are, primarily, getting away from all those awkward, uncomfortable, damaging
and life-threatening bits of human existence that constrain the promised good life. The criminal underworld, on the other hand is the bad life personified. Here the vilified perpetrators of hte worst excess of human depravity dwell. And, despite a
a voyeuristic fascination with the criminal world when kept at a safe distance through the mediation of the news, or popularised through literature and film, this dark side of human behaviour is necessarily cordoned-off, regulated, incarcerated or even extinguished from sight. Why then bring these two seemingly oppositional domains of the social world together? It is not that the falsehood of the separation of holidays and crime go unnoticed. Most of us know that the seduction of the holiday bubble bursts when travel inconvenience, marital dispute, frightening encounters with ‘other’ strangers occur, or when unlawful actions maim and kill. We also know that crime is not cordoned off by tourism and can occur anywhere and at any time, but somehow this has yetreflected in the research agendas of tourism studies and criminology. It is as if we have internalised the popular images of holidays and crime and thus closed our collective sociological imaginations to this important interface.
Sample content
Contributors
- David Botterill, University of Wales Institute Cardiff (Editor) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9169-1585
- Trevor Jones, Cardiff University (Editor) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3976-2024
For the source title:
- David Botterill, University of Wales Institute Cardiff (Editor) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9169-1585
- Trevor Jones, Cardiff University (Editor) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3976-2024
Cite as
Botterill & Jones, 2010
Botterill, D. & Jones, T. (2010) "Chapter 1 Introduction Tourism Studies and Criminology" In: Botterill, D. & Jones, T. (ed) . Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers http://dx.doi.org/10.23912/978-1-906884-14-7-1271