Functions of social conflict in tourism: tourism’s impacts on the Kanas Tuva and Kazakh Settlements, Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Goal and objectives of the dissertationGoalThe study has five main goals. The first goal is to examine the extent to which Coser's (1956) 16 suppositions can apply to tourism impact studies in China, using evidence from the Kanas Scenic Area, where the two research contexts differ significantly, as seen in Table 1.Lewis A. Coser's (1956) The Functions of Social Conflict was one sociological work that critiqued the dominant sociological paradigm - structural functionalism, and has contributed to its diminishing influence in the discipline. Coser has re-formulated and analysed sixteen of Simmel's propositions regarding conflict. These hypotheses apply to a wide range of conflicts from racial tensions to religious differences. They have valuable explanatory power for analysts of contemporary social relations, and many of these assertions still sound reasonable today.The second goal is to discuss tourism impacts on the Kanas Tuva and Kazakh community in relation to the concepts of tension and cooperation, which involves a series of objectives:u To examine the nature and functions of tensions in social relationships between the stakeholders.u To explore the extents, means, and results of tourism impacts on different populations of the community.u To demonstrate the impact of intra-group conflict upon the structure of the ethnic community.u To analyse the impact of inter-group conflict upon the structure of the ethnic community.u To discuss the unification and alliance between groups/individuals.The third goal is to establish a conflict-directed tourism development system of ethnic communities. The objectives include:u To identify and examine the main stakeholders in tourism development in ethnic communities and their relationships.u To demonstrate the mechanisms of tourism impacts from community and inter-personal perspectives.The fourth goal is to explore the development of a 'few-population ethnic group'. The objectives include:u To address the paradoxes and adaption of the cross-boundary few-population minority Tuva people in multi-minority areas in relation to tourism development.u To explore how the Tuva people in the community maintain boundaries with other groups against the background of modernisation.The fifth goal is to address the differences between China and Western countries. The objectives are:u To address the differences between China and Western societies in terms of political systems, economic development, social structures, and culture.u To present the gaps between China's eastern developed regions and the western developing and even under-developed minority areas.u To suggest that some theories and research methods might need modification for the Chinese context.u To recommend that researchers and scholars researching China should have a detailed understanding about China and appropriately apply Western theories and research methodology within China's context.MethodologyThe uniqueness of the indigenous Tuva and Kazakh people in Kanas requires the researcher to become immersed in their patterns of lives. The author employed an ethnographic approach whereby she lived in Kanas, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, for a whole year from summer 2009 to autumn 2010. This involved learning Tuva and Kazakh languages, living together with the locals, learning to ride a horse like a native, drink like a native and survive harsh winters.A combination of multiple methodological practices, empirical materials and perspectives in a single study is regarded as an appropriate strategy to answer any inquiry (Flick, 1998). Data and methodological triangulation were adopted. Regarding data triangulation, different data sources, including both primary and secondary sources of information, were used. Primary sources included participative and non-participation observation in village life and tourism operation, oral accounts, interviews, and the use of a questionnaire. …