SOCIAL TRUST AND TOURISM

Abstract

Purpose. The aim of the work is to learn the theoretical assumptions regarding the culture of trust and culture of distrust in relation to (post) modern tourism. Method. The basic method is to analyseliterature on the subject using the two theoretical perspectives dominating in sociology, namely the perspectives of functionalism and the perspective of symbolic interactionism. Results. If there is a high level of trust in the field of tourism, the result of this situation is optimism, commitment and innovation, a climate of mobilisation, activity, the potential for creativity is released, and people have a sense of freedom and subjectivity. As a consequence, structural conditions for the development of tourism are created. The reverse situation occurs when the culture of mistrust is dominant in tourism, which leads to withdrawal, passivity, demobilisation, atomisation, alienation and distancing itself from other individual and collective actors of the tourist scene. This state of affairs causes reduction in the subjective potential of the tourism community, the ability to creatively, innovatively and strengthen the culture of distrust in tourism. Research and conclusions limitations. No limitations of the tests occurred. Inference, as in the social sciences, is probabilistic in nature. Practical implications. The final conclusions should contribute to greater awareness of tourism participants about the role and importance of social trust in the development of the area of life that interests us. Originality. The description of tourism uses a soft variable which is social trust. The work is to make all tourism participants aware that this variable, after aggregation, is transformed into a powerful force that determines the progress or regression of tourism. Type of work. The article is a theoretical review in which the analysis of the phenomenon of modern tourism from a sociological perspective and using the notion of the innovative concept in scientific circulation of social trust is undertaken.