CONSIDERATIONS ON SOCIAL TOURISM BASED ON THE INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE SOCIAL SERVICE OF COMMERCE (SESC) AND THE BRAZILIAN ACADEMIC PRODUCTION

Abstract

We present an embryonic investigation - on the Doctorate in History, Politics and Cultural Goods of Cpdoc/FGV - regarding the origin, constitution and implementation of the idea of social tourism at Sesc, examining the circumstances in which leisure and tourism become relevant to its policies and actions, contextualized by the social and political history of Brazil. In this broad view, we try to comprehend the changes and readjustments that guided the institution?s actions, and how the modifications in the concept of social tourism have been interacting with Sesc?s guidelines, postures and intentions during the last decade. Besides that, we have mapped and analyzed the Brazilian academic production, which, in different manners, has addressed the theme mentioned above. So far, two interviews were performed with the professionals responsible for the sectors of research and documents of the regional administration at the Sesc of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo – the two regional offices that are most actively and "attentively" involved with the ideas and changes related to the social tourism in the world and present in the history of the Institution and of the social tourism in the country. The main motivation for the development of this investigation is the consideration of the importance to discuss the social tourism, especially in a society that is so infected with social differences, such as the Brazilian society.