‘Waiting for Gojko’: Two One-Act Plays after Goffman

Abstract

The sociological and anthropological literature dealing with the social and cultural effects of tourism not uncommonly refers to its adverse effects; and among these is a tendency to create and reinforce patterns of deference on the part of the ‘host’ population towards the foreign ‘guests’. The author's personal observations suggest that this expectation is not typically met in the case of Yugoslavia. An informal interactionist analysis of the Yugoslav restaurant industry, based on observation principally in two regions of the country, attempts to indicate why this should be the case. Models of behaviour rooted outside the restaurant itself, governing such factors as the relations between different age groups, and the evaluation of occupational skills, shape interaction within the restaurant, and define the relative statuses of guests and staff. It is also possible to point to ways in which the staff can be seen to exercise a measure of authority within the restaurant, regulating by their corporate authority the patterns of interaction found there. While the article does not challenge the claim that tourist-based development may under certain circumstances generate deferential or obsequious behaviour, it concludes with the demand that such claims be subjected to careful comparative scrutiny, in order to avoid misleading over-generalisation.