Social representations and images of slum tourism: Effects on stereotyping

Abstract

Slum tourism, referring to trips, leisure, and other activities conducted by wealthy people in spaces inhabited by disadvantaged populations, is highly controversial. On the one hand, there is the risk of exploitation and dehumanization of slum dwellers; on the other hand, it can help fighting stereotypes and stigmatization. We explore the images of slum tourism shared online on a popular tourism website, TripAdvisor, and test their impact on stereotyping. Using a mixed-method approach, in Study 1 we analyze a large corpus of images of slumming experience to explore the social representations characterizing three typical destinations of slum tourism (Brazil, India, South Africa). In Study 2, we focus on India images of slum tourism, centered on contact with the local populations. Specifically, we test the impact of photo framing (as Tourism, TripAdvisor, Volunteerism, or no label) on three key stereotype dimensions (sociability, competence, morality). Results generally revealed detrimental effects on competence and morality by images framed as Tourism or TripAdvisor (but with also positive effects on sociability), and positive indirect effects (via more positive photo category evaluation) of images framed as Volunteerism on the three stereotype dimensions.