The House of Tourism Studies and the Systemic Paradigm

Abstract

This chapter introduces a metaphor—the house—and applies Habermas’ philosophy to examine the environment where knowledge production takes place. The analysis shows the dominance of “the systemic paradigm,” which is characterized by increased bureaucratization and commercialization. This paradigm has severe consequences for two core features of universities: the open-ended search for deeper understanding and the principle of autonomy. The chapter advances the idea of reclaiming the political dimension of the epistemic endeavor and presents a series of initiatives which help to advance tourism scholarship by non-conforming to the steering conditions of this paradigm and instead reclaiming the personal and subjective; promoting multiple knowledges; and building alternative platforms of knowledge production, cooperation, and dissemination.

Citation

Munar, A.M. (2016), "The House of Tourism Studies and the Systemic Paradigm", Tourism Research Paradigms: Critical and Emergent Knowledges (Tourism Social Science Series, Vol. 22), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1571-504320150000022014