Temporary Strangers

Abstract

International travel and travelers have infrequently been topics of research by sociologists, perhaps because they have been viewed as nonserious and potentially corrupting. However, travel and travelers share many similarities with other forms of human movement, such as migration and social mobility, particularly those relating to identity management in unfamiliar environments. Travelers must deal with stressful complexities at the personal, social, and cultural levels, the solutions to which reflect on the travelers' sense of mastery and competence. The environments into which the traveler as a voluntary stranger ventures differ in their dimensions of unfamiliarity, providing occasions for both personal triumph and failure. Travelers with varying levels of travel experience and social background characteristics use different “environmental bubbles” in which to travel, bubbles that aid in managing unfamiliarity.