Resumen

OSORIO GARCIA, Maribel. Turismo masivo y alternativo. Distinciones de la sociedad moderna/posmoderna. Convergencia [online]. 2010, vol.17, n.52, pp.235-260. ISSN 2448-5799.

The article presented characterizes tourism as a distinction of modernity from the theory by Niklas Luhmann; for said end, it is assumed that modernity is a self-description of the functionally differentiated society, where tourism actuates as a medium that makes it possible to couple different functional systems for their execution. On this basis, the coupling that tourism attains between the economic system and that of the mass media is identified and the two models that it has made room for are mentioned: mass and alternative tourism. It is concluded that although such models are not necessarily consecutive, they do exhibit a differentiated way of practicing tourism.

Palabras llave : Tourism; modernity; systems; Luhmann; society.