The historical structuring of the U.S. tourism workforce: a critical review

Abstract

Although tourism jobs have been acknowledged as being low-wage, low-quality, and at times even dangerous, investigations have yet to look at the historical development of such characteristics. Using the concepts of invisible work and strategic alterity, this article offers a critical historical analysis of the ideas and institutions that have shaped the tourism workforce in the U.S. since the late 19^th century. The examples provided here focus on the ways that different markers of identity have characterized tourism workers providing the low-wage or non-wage labor in the industry. The ideological arguments justifying the differential power in the U.S. labor market are examined within the context of the U.S. with suggestions for more critical, work-centered approaches to exploring the current tourism workforce.

Keywords:

• Tourism workforce
• labor
• strategic alterity
• invisible work
• USA

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.