Construcción de la Matriz Insumo-Producto Local (MIPL)

Introduction

Having introduced the research and volunteer tourism as a popular vacation choice; provided the broad rational and objectives of the study - as well as a précis of my own position in relation to the trend - I now move to a discussion of the literature that underpins this study and significantly, to how this literature will be used to develop this thesis. As a process, reviewing the literature helped inform the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings that guided the progress of the analysis; as a product, it now furnishes the reader with a roadmap of how this particular project relates to, and makes connections with, other research and scholarship (Boyne, 2009). However, the construction of this thesis is such that a good deal of the underpinning literature is provided in each chapter to support the various arguments that are specifically being presented there.

It is my intention, therefore, that in this review I will introduce and provide analysis of scholarship from the anchoring themes and ideas that link together these

chapters and arguments, as well as showing how this particular vacation commodity can be included in these important conversations. The anchor and broad base of this thesis lays in consumerism and consumption, a frame that will narrow down to consider tourist consumption; consumption of the ‘Third World’ and, the commodification of children who, as I will argue, are consumed as a significant element in these popular vacations.

Consumption, consumerism and commodities: an overview

Mica Nava (1992) argues that “consumerism is far more than just economic

activity: it is also about dreams and consolation, communication and confrontation, image and identity” (p:167). These ideas, it has also been argued, are fuelled by a wide range of urges and desires motivated by the search, through consumerism, for pleasure and happiness (Campbell, 1993; Edwards, 2000; Holt and Schor, 2000;

hooks, 1992; Nava, 1992). For Colin Campbell (1993), key to consumer behaviour in “the contemporary industrial world” (p:206) is the “longing to experience in reality those pleasures created and enjoyed in *the+ imagination” (p:205); the notion that individuals first imagine what it would be like to have or to do, at times long before the decisive acts of purchasing and consuming. Indeed, whilst it is widely argued that mainstream tourism and fantasy enjoy a close relationship (Dann, 1976; Paradis, 2004; Urry, 1995), in this thesis I will expand the idea to show how these notions also inform volunteer tourism to ‘Third World’ destinations.

Campbell’s (1993) seminal work on the cultural origins of modern consumerism continues to be a major text for researchers interested in the field. Importantly, in the context of this study, the work also represents a shift in focus away from issues of production, onto questions of consumer behaviour and significantly here, of pleasure-seeking motives and drives inherent in consumer decisions. Pertinently, the historical notion of consumerism and “pleasure *as+ a natural accompaniment of virtue” (Campbell, 1993, p:121), makes important links with volunteer tourism largely, as I will show, in the now widely promoted alliance between

compassionate gestures and personal recreation and/or pleasure.

Whilst this alliance is evidenced in events such as Live Aid and extravagant charity balls, in the context of this research, links will be made with advertisements that, for example, promise an enormously enjoyable vacation with orphans in Cambodia. Scholars such as Moore (2008), Nickel and Eikenberry (2009), Vodopivec and Jaffe (2011) and Kothari (2006) challenge relationships such as these, their work as such having been a significant influence here. These associations will be developed further both in this chapter and throughout the thesis.

Tim Edwards (2000) argues that despite an increasing academic interest in consumption - as well as associated concepts and practises such as consumer culture; consumer society; consumerism and the consumer - definitions remain varied and various. Furthermore, a widening interdisciplinary interest also adds to the complexity. In part, he contends, this is due to consumer society and

consumption having three distinct elements. The first of these is concerned with “the significance of the commodity”; the second with “the conceptual flipside” of production (Edwards, 2000, p:3) and the third, with the act of consuming itself. Indeed, viewing volunteer tourism through the lens of consumerism allows that due regard is paid to all these aspects in the consumption of these vacations.

Significantly however, Edwards (2000) asserts that the link between all three of these elements is that of commodification. The notion of commodification has a direct relationship to this exploration of volunteer tourism and the important question of just what is being consumed (having been commodified) in these vacations. Alongside commodification, the concept of objectification is also

relevant to the arguments I will make in this thesis and in particular, that the ‘poor’ Cambodian child is an essential commodity of these vacations in Siem Reap. I will return to this idea later in this review in the section that considers the

commodification and objectification of bodies and again, throughout this thesis.

However, whilst historically consumption has been considered from a range of perspectives which include its significance in the protection of status and class (Veblen, 1934); economic exploitation through production and, the everyday matter of basic needs, more recently the importance of consumption to the construction of self, has gained considerable focus. Although here links will be made to the importance of ‘status and class protection’ in the context of volunteer tourism, other valuable connections will be made to scholarship that explores the relationship between the construction of personal narratives and tourist behaviour. These connections include, for example: constructions of self and tourist

preferences, including destination and tourist typology; constructions of self and symbols and gestures of compassion and awareness (as expressed in this choice of vacation); constructions of self and cosmopolitan credentials associated with a consumption of the exotic and, constructions of self and the holiday body (Bell, Holiday, Jones, Probyn and Sanchez Taylor, 2011; hooks, 1992; Hutnyk, 1996; Heron, 2007; MacCannell, 1999; Moore, 2008; Pratt, 1992; Trentmann, 2007; White, 2002). As Trentmann (2007) argues, even though much is dependent on

external conditions and systems, as a result of motivation and behaviour,

consumers themselves also help to inform consumption practises; no less, as I will show, in the social practise of volunteer tourism.

Douglas B. Holt and Juliet B. Schor (2000) assert that few, if any, elements of life have yet to be touched by the marketplace and argue that “vast new arenas... from education and health care to culture itself” (p:xix), are now part of consumer culture. Consumerism is now considered to be an increasingly dominant feature of lives and societies, both nationally and internationally (Edwards, 2000). Whilst viewed on a continuum from, at one extreme the source of total freedom and complete happiness to, at the other a thing intensely dystopian and nihilistic, Edwards (2000) suggests, that despite differences in interpretations and understandings from within various schools of thought, the centrality of consumerism to society as a whole, is rarely in dispute.

What is significant here, however, are debates around, what Sandel (2012) describes as the moral limits of marketing. As he contends, “the reach of the markets, and market-oriented thinking, into aspects of life traditionally governed by nonmarket norms is one of the most significant developments of our times” (Sandel, 2012, p:7). In the context of this research, Vodopivec and Jaffe (2011) argue, for example, that volunteer tourism can be understood as a “neoliberal form of development practice, in which development is not only privatized but packaged as a marketable commodity” (p:111). A central concern of this thesis is the extent of the market reach - as volunteer tourism is staged as a touristic experience - in the drive to alleviate poverty for children in Siem Reap.

Margaret Jane Radin (1996), for example, demonstrates concern when she argues that there are some items that challenge the notion of the trade of things for money. She terms these as ‘contested commodities’ and goes on to assert that many have connections to issues such as poverty, racism or damage to innocents. As such, she continues, these commodities often have a complexity that becomes more problematic with efforts to unravel them. High profile transnational

adoptions, as one example, brought to public attention in the cases of Madonna and Angelina Jolie, illustrate Radin’s concerns. Here, as Katz (2008) describes is “the niche marketing of children” (p:14) - of babies as “baubles” (p:13) – but

problematically alongside, (some may consider) humanitarian concern. As Radin (1996) claims, these are commodities that are complex to unravel. Contested commodities can also be associated with the sale of other ‘mysterious things’ (Marx, 1975) such as ova, sperm and embryos; tissue and organs; with prostitution; surrogacy and, as I will argue, with tourist experiences of ‘Third World’ lives.

A further notion that provides important background to this work is that of compassionate consumerism; a concept which Nickel and Eikenberry (2009) describe as “the marketization of philanthropy” (p:974). Compassionate consumerism is linked to social practises such as awareness-ribbon wearing

(Moore, 2008); nationwide fundraising days such as Children in Need; mass musical events in aid of the world’s hungry, as well as practises such as fair trade marketing and charity endorsed goods.

By considering the impact and consequences of these (often) international development concerns, I will show how a blurring of consumerism and

benevolence – what Moore (2008) describes as the notion that “compassion... become*s+ a commodity like any other” (p:71) - informs the volunteer tourism model. Here I draw upon scholarship that argues that despite the abundance of these campaigns and practises, their effect may be to confuse the realities of poverty and global inequalities, rather than creating views of global cooperation and action (Kothari, 2006; Moore, 2008; Nickel and Eikenberry,2009; Simpson, 2004; Vodopivec and Jaffe, 2011).

According to Nickel and Eikenberry (2009), for example, this conflation results in the understanding that “one can celebrate a culture of global capitalism while sympathizing with it victims” (p:978). Compassionate consumerism - along with supporting scholarship - is developed in Chapter Five which discusses social conditions that work to allow or enable the consumption of volunteer vacations.

The wider concern that these ideas raise is how far compassion and concern for others, may be prejudiced by the practises of consumerism; or indeed be devalued by economic exchange. As I will show, focusing this research on the volunteer tourist as consumer and Cambodian children as tourist commodities, allows that these concerns can now be articulated - and the question be asked, what is the association between a ‘First World’ vacation product and ‘the Third World poor’?

Natan Sznaider (1998), however, argues against those who assert that marketised compassion and humanitarianism are contradictory and incompatible; that “the world of capitalism is devoid of tender feelings towards strangers” (p:120). Sznaider (1998) questions the contention that markets deplete a society’s “moral legacy” (p:120) and concludes by claiming that modernity does allow the

“contradictory feature... *of being able to be+ moral in the morning and an

individualist in the afternoon” (p:136). This argument can be related to the trend of volunteer tourism where volunteers are often seen, as I will show, to be ‘moral in the morning’ - as they perform their volunteering tasks - and individualistic ‘in the afternoons’ and evenings - as they practise the hedonism of vacationing. Whilst Sznaider’s (1998) argument and the background in which it is based are certainly credible, the views of those whom he is critical are also compelling.

For example, economist Fred Hirsch (1977) describes what he terms as the ‘commercialization effect’, a notion that the quality of a product or activity is reduced by its being commercially supplied. Citing prostitution, Hirsch’s argument is that here is “the prime example of a value (sexual relationship-emotional concern) negated by price (Zelizer, 1994, p:20). For Sandel (2012) the question is what role the market should play in social relations that involve the dignity and respect of human beings. Hirsch (1997) and Sandel (2012) like many others (Adorno and Horkheimer, 2000; Holt and Schor, 2000; hooks, 1992; Nava, 1992; Radin, 1996; Zelizer, 1994) express great concern at “the relentless commodification of all areas of social life” (Holt and Schor, 2000,p:viii).

Finally, in this section of the review I reflect on the works of Zygmunt Bauman and Daniel Miller by briefly comparing and contrasting their distinct theories of

consumption. Whilst Bauman - often described (some would contend

problematically) as the theorist of consumption - has argued that consumer culture produces individuals who are either ‘seduced or repressed’ (Bauman, 1987; 1990; 1992) by the market, Miller (2001) - challenging the view that sees consumption as simultaneously harmful and insignificant - asserts that, “what most of humanity desperately needs is more consumption, more pharmaceuticals, more housing, more transport, more books, more computers” (p:227-228). Both scholars I would argue, offer valuable interpretations to this thesis; Bauman presenting a

challenging analysis of the ‘fluid’ role of consumption in modern, developed societies; Miller providing a reappraisal of the critical perspective – critiquing the critiques of consumerism – by suggesting the existence of greater creative possibilities in the connection between people and commodities. Furthermore, what the differing theories also offer is an appreciation of the broadness of thinking on consumerism, no less the definitional variations of notions such as ‘consumer culture’ and ‘consumer society’; of the very concept of the commodity - from diverse models to what Miller (2001) describes as the ‘material’. It is worth briefly unpacking these contrasts a little further here.

Zygmunt Bauman (1999), for example – having characterised a shift from “older types of modern society *to+ postmodern society” (p:36) – argues that, whilst today’s consumer society offers a seemingly endless range of products that provide (those with the means to purchase) promises of happiness and satisfaction,

consumer behaviour also carries a degree of individual responsibility that, of itself, is capable of producing unhappiness and dissatisfaction. In thinking about

constructions of self and self-identity for instance (which Bauman sees as intrinsically bound up with matters of consumption), the fear of making wrong choices is an ever present possibility (and hence risk) for the potential consumer; and as Alan Warde (1994) asserts, Bauman is particular alert to the weight of identity construction in issues of consumerism. As a consequence - and what is especially significant to this study - Bauman argues that an important role of

marketing (and principally the advertisement) is to soften this anxiety by presenting notions of expertise and assurance in consumer opportunities and preferences. This may be achieved, for example, through celebrity endorsement, quasi-scientific facts and figures (nine out of ten cats prefer…) or “information” (Adorno, 2001, p:85) in the advertisement that the same choices are being made by those considered to be suitable co-consumers (people like ‘you’). A spin-off of this process however, is that the route to ‘certainty’ is only achievable through the act of purchasing (Bauman, 1988); a concept, I will show, that has much to say to the choice, purchase and consumption of the volunteer vacation.

In contrast, Daniel Miller (2001) contends that the field of consumerism is often employed as a channel “to castigate society for it materialism” (p:225) by those who simultaneously enjoy the benefits of the same consumer society. His call is to move away from ‘recycled’ arguments to, what he describes as, “sufficiently nuanced” (Miller, 2001, p:227) critiques. In this way he continues, the importance of “morality to the academic analysis of consumption” (Miller, 2001, p:241), can be realised and as such, crucial concerns around ‘Third World’ poverty for example, avoid being lost within a wide-sweeping “anti-materialistic ideology” (p:225). Furthermore, Miller (2001) expresses concern in the problematic contention - as he sees it - that when consumer desires are aroused through advertising messages then “any subsequent relationship of identity that we forge through them must be inauthentic” (p:229). His concern, as he asserts, lies primarily in the implication that it is other people that are interpreted as gullible and shallow and never those engaged in research and critique. In this respect Miller acts both as a balancing influence in my own critical framework as well as offering guidance to the degree and direction of reflexive engagement, again in this particular thesis.

But as Holt and Schor (2000) contend, “the literature on consumer society is vast” (p:xxiii) and in a brief consideration of Zygmunt Bauman and Daniel Miller alone, processes of consumption and theories of consumerism are recognised for their complexity and contradictory character (Miller, 2001). As such it is impossible to consider all interpretations or to master the full range of possibilities in just one

PhD project - and indeed unnecessary. Nonetheless, the predominance of consumer practise to today’s society is quite clear. In this regard, drawing on scholarship that provides the relevant and germane underpinning for this thesis, the next section of this review will consider consumption that relates particularly to tourism.

Tourism: commodity, consumption and consumer

The notion of travelling for pleasure is recognised as a quintessential example of modern consumerism (Lash and Urry, 1994; MacCannell, 1999; Mowforth and Munt, 1998; Telfer and Sharpley, 2008; Urry, 1990). Contemporary literature that considers tourist practise has, however, experienced a number of important shifts in focus since the 1980’s. This has been produced in part by a widening of

understanding of consumption and the commodity as outlined in some of the debates above. Critically engaging volunteer tourism in Siem Reap as commodity and as consumption, I therefore, now turn my attention to scholarship and debates on tourism; the tourist and, understandings of touristic consumption.

As Telfer and Sharpley (2008) contend, tourism has emerged since the 1980s as one of the most significant and yet contentious ‘socio-economic forces’ (p:1). Alongside the vast increase in the number of individuals who are able to travel they argue, has also been an exponential increase in tourist destinations and ways of doing tourism. John Urry (1990) asserts nonetheless, that holidays – tourism, vacationing, travelling for pleasure - are essentially “about consuming goods and services which are in some sense unnecessary” (p:1); about the search, it is also said, for satisfaction and happiness. As such, and alongside the increased interest in consumerism, as Salazar (2004) argues, tourism “can no longer be conceived of as merely what happens at tourist destinations and encounters involving tourists away from home” (p:88). The broader the theoretical and empirical concerns with consumption, consumerism and consumer society, the wider and deeper

investigations of tourism have – and continue to - become. Nonetheless, as Urry (1990) argues, the fundamental nature of travelling for pleasure is “multi-faceted

and particularly bound up with many other social and cultural elements” (p:135); and as such, is itself a complex social practise (Rojek and Urry, 1997).

Urry (1990) claims, however, that tourism is a subject capable of revealing “aspects of normal practices which might otherwise remain opaque” (p:2) and therefore, this dynamic and complex phenomenon must cease to be regarded as having only limited sociological appeal. The, at times, lightweight view of tourism may be due in part to what Ritzer, Goodman and Wiedenhoft (2012) describe as thinking on consumption being subordinated to thinking on production - even social theorists, they add, seeing themselves in the same terms, ‘producing rather than consuming’ (p:425). Furthermore, whilst Graham Dann (2000) is in accord with the importance of tourism as an area of contemporary concern, he also asserts that it is not only sociology but a “rich kaleidoscope of multidisciplinary insights” (p:368) - history, anthropology, economics, philosophy, geography, political science - that

contributes to its greater understanding. Recognising this view, use has been made of an eclectic range of literature to examine the place of volunteer tourism in these conversations.

The study of tourism (and particularly as consumption) has, as such, much to offer a range of investigations of the social world (as have, I will argue, the intricacies and nuances of the specific trend of volunteer vacationing). In the context of this