This book draws on the thought of Baudrillard to explore the effects of globalisation and tourism in a Thai context. Arguing that tourism does not necessarily erode local culture but that local culture can in fact be recreated through globalisation and tourism, the author employs studies of the Damnoen Saduk and Pattaya floating markets, showing them to be simulations of Thai culture that undergo changes of form, cultural content and activity, through various stages of representation. With a focus on the themes of the circulation of value and signs, the play of differences and orders of simulacra, this volume examines the extent to which Baudrillard’s theory can apply in a non-western context and in relation to tourism. A study of consumption, tourism and the relations between the global and the local, Globalisation, Tourism and Simulacra will appeal to scholars of sociology and geography with interests tourism, globalisation and social theory.

Fire Dancers in Thailand's Tourism Industry explores the evolution of fire dancing from informal community jam sessions into the iconic, tourist-oriented performances at beach parties and bars, through a close consideration of the role of affect in the lives of fire dancers in the ever-changing scene. Rather than pursuing the common notion that tourism industries are exploitative enterprises that oppress workers, Tiffany Rae Pollock centers the perspectives of fire artists themselves, who view the industry as simultaneously generative and destructive. Dancers reveal how they employ affect to navigate their lives, art, and labor in this context, showcasing how affect is not only a force that acts on people but also is used and shaped by social actors toward their own ends. Fire Dancers in Thailand's Tourism Industry highlights men as affective laborers, investigating how they manage the eroticization of their identities and the intersections of art and labor in tourist economies. Exploring moments of performance and everyday life, Pollock examines how fire artists reimagine their labor, lives, and communities in Thailand's tourism industry.

Since its beginnings, tourism has inspired built environments that have suggested reinvented relationships with their original architectural inspirations. Copies, reinterpretations, and simulacra still constitute some of the most familiar and popular tourist attractions in the world. Some reinterpret archetypes such as the ancient palace, the Renaissance villa, or the Mediterranean village. Others duplicate the cities in which we lived in the past or we still live today. And others realise perceptions of utopias such as Shangri-La, Eden, or Paradise. Replicas – duplitecture – and simulacra can have symbolic meaning for tourists, as merely inspiring an atmosphere or as truly authentic, and their relationship to original functions, for worship, accommodation, leisure, or shopping. Tourism and Architectural Simulacra questions and rethinks the different environments constructed or adapted both for and by tourism exploring the relationship between the architectural inspiration and its reproduction within the tourist bubble. The wide range of geographical areas, eras, and subjects in this book show that the expositions of simulacra and hyper reality by Baudrillard, Deleuze, and Eco are surpassed by our complex world. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach they offer original insights of the complex relationship between tourism and architecture. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change.

First Published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Business Groups and the Thailand Economy examines the role of business groups, specifically state, local, and foreign capitals in the economic development of emerging economies and highlights why business groups are essential in helping a country break out of the middle-income trap. Wailerdsak reviews Thailand’s industrial and economic growth strategies through the local and international investors and explains why business groups are one of the key drivers of economic advancement and why they help to avoid the middle-income trap. The author also examines their business power expansion methods, including selection and specialization, political influence, mergers and acquisitions, outward FDI and business alliances. The book concludes with policy recommendations of how the government can engage business groups to accelerate high-tech industrialization and create jobs. The middle-income trap issue faced by Thailand would be of interest to many emerging economies, especially scholars and policymakers researching on Asian business and management, Asian economies, developmental economics, political economy, policy studies, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, and private company strategic management in emerging countries.

Globalization: The Reader addresses the big issues: communications and global media, political economy, cultural homogeneity and heterogeneity, new technologies, tourism, beliefs, and identity.

As identity and authenticity discourses increasingly saturate everyday life, so too have these concepts spread across the humanities and social sciences literatures. Many scholars may be interested in identity and authenticity but lack knowledge of paradigmatic or disciplinary approaches to these concepts. This volume offers readers insight into social constructionist approaches to identity and authenticity. It focuses on the processes of identification and authentication, rather than on subjective experiences of selfhood. There are no attempts to settle what authentic identities are. On the contrary, contributors demonstrate that neither identities nor their authenticity have a single or fixed meaning. Chapters provide exemplars of contemporary research on identity and authenticity, with significant diversity among them in terms of the identities, cultural milieu, geographic settings, disciplinary traditions, and methodological approaches considered. Contributors introduce readers to a number of established and emerging identity groups from sites around the world, from yogis and punks to fire dancers and social media influencers. Their conceptual work stretches from the micro-analytic to the ethno-national as authors employ a variety of qualitative methods including ethnographic fieldwork, interviewing, and the collection and analysis of naturally-occurring interactions. Several of the chapters look directly at identification and authentication while others focus on the social and cultural backdrops that structure these practices – what unites them is the adoption of social constructionist sensibilities. This book will appeal to anyone interested in understanding identity and authenticity.