Tourism, capitalism and Marxist political economy

Abstract

There is little doubt that Marxist political economy has made a profound contribution to our understanding and critique of the capitalist political economy. Cox (2002: 27) goes as far as to argue that ‘we are all Marxists now, given the demonstrated usefulness of many Marxist, or rather, Marxian models for understanding social processes’. Notwithstanding the constant soundings of its death knell (see Booth 1985; Fukuyama 1989), Marx continues to be relevant for understanding the workings of twenty-first-century capitalism. This chapter thus considers the political economy of international tourism and its labour relations through the conceptual-theoretical lens of Marx’s political economy and historical materialism. Where relevant it also draws on broader strands of Marxian enquiry, which have in one way or another contributed to a reappraisal of Marxist political economy in the context of globalization and neoliberalism, and which offer ways of moving beyond the theoretical barricades and ideological enclaves that have often undermined the contribution of radical political economy to recent debates.