1 Consuming Hospitality Peter Lugosi Oxford School of Hospitality Management Oxford Brookes University plugosi@brookes.ac.uk Published as: Lugosi, P. (2016) Consuming hospitality. In Lashley, C. (Ed.) Routledge Handbook of Hospitality Studies. Abingdon: Routledge, 220-232. ISBN: 978-1-13893-112-1. Introduction Consumption refers to a broad set of practices, processes and outcomes (Bell and Valentine, 1997; Holt, 1995; Miller, 1995; Patterson, 2006). Consumption involves the reception, interpretation and use (i.e. transformation and incorporation) of objects, actions, spaces, sights, sounds, smells and events. Consumption may therefore have physical, embodied and material dimensions, but it may also have symbolic, psychological and emotional ones in terms of what is being consumed, when, how and the resulting consequences (Miller, 1995; Shove, Trentmann and Wilk, 2009). Consumption may be considered as experience, involving different sensations and emotional states (Holt, 1995; Patterson, 2006). Consumption also involves acquiring, assigning and manipulating meanings attached to objects and experiences (Miller, 1995; Patterson, 2006). Interpreting and assigning meaning to the acts, objects and spaces of consumption is also used to classify the people, places and organisations involved (Bell and Valentine, 1997; Bourdieu, 1984). Within the context of the following discussion, consumption is not considered a passive nor a unidirectional process of reception or interpretation by the ‘consumer’. Consumption requires people to engage, invest and to perform the practices of consuming (Warde, 2005). It is also important to acknowledge at the outset that hospitality is co- created through a series of spatial, material, performative and representational practices involving the simultaneous input of producers and consumers (cf. Lugosi, 2014a; Ritzer, 2015). Consumer input may be restricted to perception, but it often involves actions and practices beyond psychological processes; it requires consumers to mobilise various competencies and resources (Lugosi, 2008). This chapter, however, focuses on the consumption or reception of hospitality rather the broader process of production or co- creation. Within this chapter I distinguish between different forms of hospitality according to the underlying logics that shape how and why it emerges, and I consider the diverse implications for those involved in its consumption. For example, some forms of hospitality consumption are chosen because they bring benefits for their consumers. I argue that hospitality may be consumed as play, which has hedonic benefits. It may be consumed to ensure safety and wellbeing. The consumption of hospitality may also underpin social organisation and group cohesion. However, I also consider how hospitality can be imposed and used coercively as forms of control, or within the process of domination. I explore how hospitality can be used in the process of identification as individuals engage in consumption brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Oxford Brookes University: RADAR