Dual Consideration of the Pilgrim-Tourist Based on Lived Experience of Three Generations

The present essay studies the theoretical distinctions of two concepts: that of pilgrimage and that of tour in three aspects of social act, close approximation with different life style and two phenomena of pilgrim and tourist as two discursive identities. The essay makes distinction based on the experiences of three generations of Shahid Beheshti University’s staff. As such it builds a framework and makes efforts to demonstrate experiential distinctions among three generations on pilgrimage-tour. The technique of the depth interview was used to collect data for this study; therefore 15 persons of the university’s staff belonging to three generations were interviewed. The results show a marked reduction in third generation respondents’ tendency to pilgrimage in comparison with second and first generations. Also the respondents subjectively make a conceptual distinction between pilgrimage and tour of sacred places in abroad. This distinction is less frequently seen among pilgrimage and tour inside the country.