Distinction abroad

Hipsters as post-tourists

Abstract

This paper presents an initial analytical approach to the contemporary emergence of what tourism studies have called post-tourism, and its links to the broader sociocultural phenomenon known as “hipster culture”. It analyzes both processes from the theoretical contributions of Pierre Bourdieu, understanding them as contradictory emergencies of the permanent struggles for “distinction” that characterize our society, in a context marked by the tension between forces tending to differentiation and dedifferentiation. The main antecedents and previous contributions referred to the question are presented, while a specific case (the Neukölln neighborhood, in Berlin) is briefly recovered to illustrate some of the social effects of these phenomena.
The work is part of the authors' participation in the “Introduction to Social Sciences” chair of the Bachelor of Tourism of the National University of Rosario.