Stages of tourism product development
Modern philosophy and sociology have proved quite convincingly that the usual and simple desires and actions of people are based on fundamental needs that are reflected through the collective subconscious in the form of archetypal complexes and mythological structures. Most often, this approach is used to explain boundary states and critical situations, the transition from one social status to another, traumatic experiences, and being on the verge of life and death. However, this approach can be extended to the entire life world of a modern person, to all everyday and habitual human actions.
Human behavior is driven by a goal, although we are not always aware of this goal. Max Weber identified four types of social action, one of which he called traditional. Traditional action is based on people’s long-standing habits. It is based on social patterns of behavior, norms that have become habitual, traditional, and not subject to verification.
Most of our everyday behavior can be attributed to this type. At the same time, in some cases, traditional action can be approximated or transformed into affective action. The latter is caused by the affects or emotional state of the individual.
The determinant of an affective action is emotional excitement that turns into passion, a deep emotional impulse, so it is performed only for the purpose of expressing emotions. Being a short-term emotional state, such an action is not oriented toward evaluating others or consciously choosing a goal.
This action often goes beyond what is conscious. In general, traditional and affective actions often border, on the one hand, on purely reactive, unconscious behavior, and, on the other hand, on rational behavior, in which people either believe in self-sufficient value regardless of the consequences of the action (value-rational action) or consciously select appropriate means to achieve the goal, taking into account possible consequences (goal-oriented action).
In other words, behavior is not a consequence of achieving a goal, but the performance of certain ritual actions, the purpose of which is in the background, the action becomes more important than the result. A person is satisfied with the process, not the result of an action. “A pure ritual is an activity that has no direct goal, but is performed because it is “customary”. … In many cases, it is more convenient to act “as is customary” than to solve a problem every time: to choose the most appropriate action.”
Ritual behavior can be based on the standards of the social group to which a person belongs, or on the influence of remnants of past cultures that fit into the modern culture of society in certain ways.
Ritual activity also allows for “aimless” behavior, when the need to achieve a certain result disappears. A person feels free from everyday needs. Rejecting everyday goals, a person feels “above them”. At the same time, the “absence” of a goal allows you to stop working at any time without risk. Such a “virtual zone of activity” makes it possible to fully reveal a person’s abilities without the threat of loss. Ritual activity is based on ancient instincts or mythological imaginations woven into modern culture. The development of human spirituality is realized through ritual. At the same time, ritual is a means of self-affirmation, self-defense, and socialization.
At one time, the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde contrasted tradition with fashion. They are two forms of imitation. In his opinion, tradition is imitation of the past, acting within a social group, community or stratum. Fashion is imitation of the future, the new, and often goes beyond the boundaries of a particular social community. Fashion and tradition are closely interconnected and mutually reinforce each other. The original form of civilization, he wrote, which originated among a given tribe, spreads through traditions for centuries in a closed environment, then, having broken free of these close boundaries, continues to spread among related or alien tribes, through fashion.
But is it always a tradition of reproducing past experience? We did not witness the past; it is not our experience. It is only our idea of the past, our interpretation of the past experience. Here, too, the question arises: What period should be considered the past? Society is heterogeneous, our culture is a mosaic combination of subcultures of different groups, and therefore, which subculture should we take as the basic, dominant one?
We create a myth about the past based on present needs, and this past may have very little to do with historical reality.
Tradition is not just an imitation of the past that once happened, it is a connection between old and new content that creates the appearance of continuity in our society.
Therefore, the reproduction of traditions is not a restoration of historical truth, but a process of myth-making an image of the past aimed at the future. For the myth of the past, the future comes to the fore. Tradition only builds on the past and forms a virtual history.
The myth of the past with new, modern content can become a tourist product.
In turn, a tourist product is seen as a social construct, as something experienced and endowed with meanings, associations and memories. The answer to the question of how products in tourism are constructed, understood and consumed should be sought in the peculiarities of cultural practices.