Urbanization of consciousness or maintaining rurality: What tourism workers tell from social identity theory perspectives

Abstract

In the current study, whether tourism creates an urbanization effect on consciousness or creates no change is examined from the perspective of social identity theories. People who earn money from tourism in Yesiluzumlu that receives amenity migration were selected as the research population. According to the information obtained, the number of enterprises in the neighborhood was lower than 30. Assuming that there were 29 enterprises, the sample constituted 55% of the population through purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted with participants and the data obtained was subjected to discourse analysis which is composed of post-structuralist perspective as epistemological structure. The study makes a contribution to the literature on rural-urban interaction in tourism and brings into question the transformative effect of tourism on social identity. It illustrates the problems in the settlement that may be caused by the construction activities that is synonymous in the participants’ minds with urbanization and without neglecting the stimulating effect of urban consciousness, underlines mutual value creation between urbanity and rurality is an option in a way that the level of urbanization in the touristic settlement remains controlled.