Abstract
Critics of the concept fail to note that staged authenticity is not authenticity but its opposite or negation. This error is illustrated referencing Ed Bruner’s reading of The Tourist in his recent book Culture on Tour.
Similar content being viewed by others
Further Reading
Bruner, E. (2005). Culture on tour: ethnographies of travel. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
MacCannell, D. (1973). “Staged authenticity: on arrangements of social space in tourist settings.”. The American Journal of Sociology, 79(3), 589–603.
MacCannell, D. (1999). The tourist: a new theory of the leisure class. Berkeley: University of California Press.
MacCannell, D. (2008). “Staged authenticity today”. In M. Sorkin (Ed.),Indefensible space: the architecture of the national security state (pp. 259–276). London: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
MacCannell, D. Why it Never Really was About Authenticity . Soc 45, 334–337 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-008-9110-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-008-9110-8