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The Virtualization of Backpacker Culture

  • Conference paper
Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2009

Abstract

Backpacking is a culture symbolic of the increasingly mobile world. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the stabilization and creation of the social structure of the backpacking culture that has resulted from the convergence of technology and ideology. Using theory from the field of evolutionary anthropology, the backpacker culture is examined as an integrated system composed of technological, sociological, and ideological sybsystems. Age cohort analysis is used to examine the differences between age groups in terms of their online information search, participation in backpacker specific forums, usage of social networking sites, and the virtual connection to the backpacker culture. While previous studies have considered the mainstreaming of backpacking as the main barrier to examining backpacking as a culture, the results of this study suggest that the convergence of backpacker ideology with the advances in communications technologies have created the social structure to support the mainstream backpacker culture of today.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University, USA

    Cody Morris Paris

Authors
  1. Cody Morris Paris
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, Weingarten, Germany

    Wolfram Höpken

  2. Laboratory for Intelligent Systems in Tourism, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA

    Ulrike Gretzel

  3. School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

    Rob Law

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag/Wien

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Paris, C.M. (2009). The Virtualization of Backpacker Culture. In: Höpken, W., Gretzel, U., Law, R. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2009. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-93971-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-93971-0_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-93970-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-211-93971-0

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