On Dean MacCannell’s shrouded sociology of tourism

Abstract

This article reconstructs Dean MacCannell’s intellectual trajectory to illuminate his distinctive position in tourism studies. By tracing key milestones in his work—particularly his notion of the “dialectic of authenticity”—it examines how he conceptualized tourism as both an organizing framework for experience and a force transforming host societies. The analysis challenges dominant readings of MacCannell that overlook his deeper ambition: to theorize modernity itself through tourism’s cultural and economic processes. Such interpretations obscure his grounding in classical social theory (especially Durkheim) and his focus on tourism’s role in restoring social cohesion. The article further explores how The Ethics of Sightseeing negotiates critiques of tourism while defending its “lost” cultural content against commercialization. Ultimately, this reevaluation demonstrates how MacCannell’s framework, despite its gaps, prefigured central debates about globalization and late modernity—offering a critical lens to analyze tourism’s structural role in shaping contemporary subjectivities and social relations.