Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in Tourist Settings

TLDR

Tourist settings contain a series of special spaces between front and back designed to accommodate visitors and reinforce their belief in authentic experiences. The study analyzes how false consciousness relates to the social structure of tourist establishments. The authors examine travelers’ accounts using Goffman’s front‑back distinction. Tourists seek back regions for intimacy and authenticity, yet tourist settings are arranged to create the illusion of back‑region entry, and Goffman’s front‑back dichotomy functions as a continuum rather than fixed poles.

Abstract

The problem of false consciousness and its relationship to the social structure of tourist establishments is analyzed. Accounts of travelers are examined in terms of Erving Goffman's front versus back distinction. It is found that tourists try to enter back regions of the places they visit because these regions are associated with intimacy of relations and authenticity of experiences. It is also found that tourist settings are arrenged to produce the impression that a back region has been entered even when this is not the case. In tourist settings, between the front and the back there is a series of special spaces designed to accommodate tourists and to support their beliefs in the authenticity of their experiences. Goffman's front-back dichotomy is shown to be ideal poles of a continuum, or a variable.