Becoming a backpacker in China: A grounded theory approach to identity construction of backpackers

Jingru Zhang, Hazel Tucker, Alastair M. Morrison and Bihu Wu

Annals of Tourism Research, 2017, vol. 64, issue C, 114-125

Abstract: Backpacking tourism has gained in popularity among Chinese young people since the 1990s. While learning from their western counterparts, Chinese backpackers have also developed their own unique group identification strategies. By focusing on how backpacker identity is socially constructed in the Chinese context, this research explores the meaning and process of becoming a backpacker in China. Grounded theory was adopted, and the structure “image-identity-strategy” emerged to organise the process of becoming a backpacker into three phases. The findings show that Chinese backpackers employ various strategies to continuously negotiate and reconstruct their backpacker identity. It is thereby shown how the process itself of becoming a backpacker is always ongoing.

Keywords: Backpackers; Backpacking; Identity; Social construction; Becoming; Grounded theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:anture:v:64:y:2017:i:c:p:114-125

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2017.03.004

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