Why Travel? The Sociological Perspective

This chapter explores sociological perspectives, demonstrating how travelling impacts social structures and well as mobility through class and social status. The examples of the search for freedom and social mobility show how mass movements have occurred due to the desire to move from the place and position in which people were born to different positions in the social structure. Moving from one socioeconomic group to another is strongly related with the ability to move jobs, housing, and social groups all of which are enabled by travel. The expansion of mass travel has enabled family structures to survive even though the traditional three generational family residing and working near to each other has largely disappeared. Of course, such ability to travel freely is not available to all equally and the chapter also flags up the disadvantages caused by lack of travel based on income, gender and disability. The chapter also considers the way in which travel shapes and reinforces political beliefs.