Converting resources into capital in the sphere of tourism (on the example of Veliky Ustyug and Myshkin)

Abstract

The key task of the article is to assess the ability to convert resources into other resources and capital in accordance with the logic of Marxist methodology. Resources are any elements of reality that serve to provide social activities, so all the resources are social in the broadest sense of the word. A resource can turn into capital or cannot turn, so capital is not equal to the object - it is a social process, which implies an increase in the value of the resource. The author discusses the problem of converting resources into capital on the example of the tourism industry, whose main resource is the tourist attraction. The article presents the results of the sociological research conducted in the form of case studies in the cities of Veliky Ustyug and Myshkin. The author notes that a tourist attraction with the help of certain technologies and methods can ‘transform’ in such resources as jobs, urban infrastructure, social networks, symbolic benefits, resources to enhance the activity of a large group of industries connected with tourism, and in such forms of capital as monetary, political, social and symbolic. The author offers some practical advice to those social actors whose position in the tourism activities space contributes to obtaining different forms of capital.

Keywords

• ресурсы
• капитал
• туризм
• туристическая достопримечательность
• социальное конструирование
• марксизм