Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access

Abstract

Exploring Global Citizenship Theories to Advance Educational, Social, Economic and Environmental Justice

Joyce Pittman

The development of effective approaches to educating for global citizenship to promote social, economic and environmental justice is often hampered by disagreement as to the meaning of the phenomenon or concept known as transnational or global citizenship, which could be perceived as an offspring of educational tourism. Three theoretical models or approaches attempt to explain or argue positions about global citizenship: 1) political theory of global citizenship 2) educational theory of global citizenship and 3) the social theory of global citizenship. Some theorists claim that an individual’s belief that they are capable of altering their citizenship through environmental conditions and related influences through the creation or engagement in certain types of events could support altering their citizenship status. A review of studies investigating the role of education and tourism in educating for global citizenship is derived from exploring theoretical constructs from all three models supporting global citizenship in an attempt to align the validity of this approach with the efforts to determine how global citizenship and tourism promote social, economic and environmental justice. However, it is important to note that each competing theory emphasizes the importance of some characteristics not addressed by the other models. It was concluded that while effective in some practical and conceptual ways, designating any one model is too restrictive to account for the full range of potential opportunities for educating for global citizenship to advance educational, social, economic and environmental justice. Therefore, one model alone cannot provide a comprehensive strategy for using educational theory as the ideal model to promote social, economic and environmental justice.