The Position of the Scientific System of Tourism: From a Disciplinary Approach to an Interdisciplinary One

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Extended Abstract
In order to facilitate the study of the world, human beings have tried to classify knowledge. Such a classification allows for accumulation of knowledge and making it more accessible. Putting knowledge within certain borders has gradually created academic disciplines for the systematic analysis of the world's phenomena. Tourism, as a phenomenon of the contemporary world, is a complicated and multidimensional topic the study of which necessitates crossing the borders of common disciplines and adopting a hybrid approach. This paper explores the position of tourism studies among academic disciplines and their study approaches. The analyses show that tourism phenomenon is of a nature whose understanding needs interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary studies; and trying to promote its position from a field of study to a discipline may be due to a lack of academic self-confidence and the dominance of the thesis of unity of science. Then, the disciplinarity of tourism studies has been analyzed against the criteria of Hirst, Kuhn and Bernstein's models. Finally, having analyzed the disciplinary position of tourism studies using these models, crossing the limits of disciplinary paradigms, adopting and integrating the methodologies of different disciplines in order to conduct hybrid researches are presented as the key to develop and enrich tourism studies.
 Introduction
Knowledge has long been classified into different branches and has been ranked accordingly. Aristotle, for example, has ranked knowledge in his Nicomachean Ethics; and Al-Farabi, too, ranked knowledge as theoretical, intellectual, moral, and practical, respectively (DavariAradakani, 2011:192) . Previously, scholars mastered all branches of science (Zarghami, 2009), while in modern world an expertise in a certain science is needed. Today, scholars break down natural and social phenomena into smaller parts in order to be studies more precisely and deeply. Thus, different branches as knowledge are formed. This classification, known as Technologies of Normalization by Foucault, is believed to be a powerful and insidious form of domination (Dreyfus and Rabinow, 1983:198). Apart from Foucault, other postmodern intellectuals such as Rutherford, Lyotard and Derrida have criticized the artificial classification of knowledge and have considered it to be hindering the understanding the natural order of phenomena. In order to overcome this limitation, they propose interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary studies. Taking such approaches not only does solve the problems of expertizing in a certain field, but also creates new research potentials for different scientific fields (Barzegar, 2009).
The two terms of multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary are often used interchangeably. Fundamentally, they are not synonymous. Multi-disciplinary studies imply simplythat more than one discipline is brought to bear on some topic. Inter-disciplinary studies imply something extra, that the methodology involves working between the disciplines, blending various philosophies and techniques so that the particular disciplines do not stand apart but are brought together intentionally and explicitly to seek a synthesis. With inter-disciplinary studies there is an anticipated synergistic outcome stemming from the combined insights (Leiper, 1981).
Tourism, as a phenomenon of the contemporary world, is a complicated and multidimensional topic the study of which necessitates crossing the borders of common disciplines and adopting a hybrid approach. Several discussions have been formed so far regarding the methodological issues of tourism studies and its research approaches. Reviewing these discussions shows two general stands towards tourism studies: tourism studies as a discipline and as a field of study. Therefore, following questions are raised:
-            Is tourism studies currently a discipline or a field of study?
-            Will tourism theories eventually become rich and coherent enough in order to be considered a discipline?
-            What is the appropriate study approach for tourism subjects?
 Materials and Methods
Having analyzed the viewpoints of tourism scholars regarding the disciplinarity of tourism, this paper incorporates the models of Hirst, Kuhn and Bernstein in order to examine the qualities of tourism studies. None of these models are about tourism specifically, yet this paper checks the features of tourism against the criteria presented in these models to see whether it qualifies as a discipline or a field of study.
 Discussion and Results
The analyses and the qualities attributed to tourism studies show that tourism is essentially a field of study rather than a discipline. Specifically, according to Hirst’s model, it has none of the four criteria needed to be a discipline. Adopting the science development path of Kuhn, tourism can only be considered a pre-science due to the presence of numerous discussions about its principles, various disordered studies, random data collection, lack of theoretical assumptions, lack of models and frameworks, etc. Using Bernstein’s approach, however, the main problem impeding tourism’s theoretical development seems to be caused by an inappropriate, dominant philosophical and methodological approach (Echtner and Jamal, 1997).
 Conclusion
Both philosophically and practically, it seems that development of tourism studies into a coherent and independent discipline is not likely. Today, a collaboration among disciplines and conducting multidisciplinary and preferably, interdisciplinary researches is recommended in order to develop and enrich tourism as a newly emerged field of study.

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