Power and Politics at the Seaside

The seaside is the twentieth century's pre-eminent global tourism site and this is the first book of its kind to examine political and power relations in modern seaside resort development. As an historical study of seaside tourism in Devon-England's most popular domestic holiday destination-it reveals the complex interplay between ideology, class and power and the consumption of landscape and place. Drawing on rich local, regional and national sources and bringing together approaches from history, sociology, geography and cultural studies, the book addresses the seaside holiday as an historical and sociological phenomenon. It locates seaside tourism within the wider leisure experience and suggests that the seaside manifests and reinforces the wider social, economic and political power relations which shape society.