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COUCHSURFING in NORTH TEXAS: a LOCALIZED VIEW of a GLOBAL PHENOMENON by RORY L. BRADBURY Presented to the Faculty of the Gradua

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COUCHSURFING in NORTH TEXAS: a LOCALIZED VIEW of a GLOBAL PHENOMENON by RORY L. BRADBURY Presented to the Faculty of the Gradua COUCHSURFING IN NORTH TEXAS: A LOCALIZED VIEW OF A GLOBAL PHENOMENON by RORY L. BRADBURY Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON MAY 2013 Copyright © by Rory L. Bradbury 2013 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to all those who helped make this thesis possible. I would like to thank Dr. Linda Rouse for serving as my Thesis Chair and for all the help and support she provided me throughout the process of writing my thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Heather Jacobson and Dr. Ben Agger for their help serving as committee members for my thesis. In addition, I thank all the professors and students at the University of Texas at Arlington who helped me even in the slightest throughout my years there. In my personal life, I would like to thank both my mother and brother who were instrumental in giving me the emotional support needed to accomplish my educational goals. Also Victoria Roundtree, Jake Lintrop, and Charlie Snow, all need no introductions or thanks, but both are given here nonetheless. Lastly, I cannot forget to thank all the couchsurfers I encountered throughout this journey. Without you, this research project would be non-existent. April 16, 2013 iii ABSTRACT COUCHSURFING IN NORTH TEXAS: A LOCALIZED VIEW OF A GLOBAL PHENOMENON Rory L. Bradbury, M.A. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2013 Supervising Professor: Linda Rouse The purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory research project to discover issues and problems faced by people who are a part of Hospitality Exchange Networks. This research focuses on the largest free travel based network, CouchSurfing.org, which currently has over 5 million members. Mixed methods were used to gather the data. The main source of data was taken qualitatively when the researcher conducted nineteen in-depth interviews with couchsurfers who had varying degrees of experience in this community. Ethnographic techniques were also used during field work, which included "surfing" five times and going to numerous local couchsurfing events in the North Texas area. There was extensive use of content analysis by examining the design, structure, and content of the CouchSurfing.org website. In addition, quantitative data was obtained through the use of a survey given to each respondent. The central theme this study focuses on is the problem of "participation". I learned that while most couchsurfers hold similar beliefs and lifestyles, there is a large amount of variation in how people choose to participate in this community. Couchsurfing relies on its members to be iv able to host and surf in order to balance out needs and demands of the network, yet I discovered it is more common for someone to choose one of these roles over the other. Personal choice of participation was found to be not only about individual motivations and wants, but also issues such as trust, comfort, privacy, danger and safety. All of these issues act as barriers which can limit a person's choices in participating in couchsurfing. Each of these barriers is grounded in larger sociological forces that impact not only couchsurfers in various ways, but non-couchsurfing outsiders as well. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................................. viii Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………..………..….. ..................................... 1 1.1 What is Couchsurfing? ..................................................................................... 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................. 6 3. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Theoretical Foundations ................................................................................. 13 3.2 Research Design & Questions ....................................................................... 17 3.3 Data Collection ............................................................................................... 28 3.4 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 35 3.5 Ethical Considerations & Problems ................................................................ 36 3.6 Emergent Themes .......................................................................................... 38 4. FINDINGS .................................................................................................................... 41 4.1 Barriers to Couchsurfing ................................................................................ 41 4.2 Attitudes Towards Couchsurfing .................................................................... 43 4.3 Barriers in Action: Danger, Safety, & Risk ..................................................... 64 4.4 Gender Barriers .............................................................................................. 79 4.5 Privacy ............................................................................................................ 83 4.6 Barriers of Trust.............................................................................................. 86 5. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 97 vi 5.1 Response to Current Couchsurfing Literature ............................................... 99 5.2 Classifying Couchsurfing Barriers ................................................................ 101 5.3 Problems & Future Research ....................................................................... 103 5.4 The Future of Couchsurfing ......................................................................... 104 APPENDIX A. INFORMED CONSENT .............................................................................................. 108 B. SURVEY .................................................................................................................... 112 C. INTERVIEW GUIDE .................................................................................................. 117 D. SUBJECT RECRUITMENT EMAIL ........................................................................... 122 E. INFORMANT DEMOGRAPHICS TABLE .................................................................. 125 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 127 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................ 131 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 3.1 Population Map ........................................................................................................................ 29 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis is intended to be an exploratory study of a community of people who engage in an activity called "couchsurfing." This group of individuals (aptly named couchsurfers) open up their houses to one another and allow other couchsurfers to live with them cost-free for a few days while they are visiting a city or country outside their own, be it for work or leisure. This differs significantly from the normal accommodations that tourists utilize while traveling, such as getting a hotel room when traveling around the U.S. and abroad. Couchsurfing is a fairly unique community that exists both online and offline. Through the use of a hospitality- exchange network (like www.CouchSurfing.org), users are able to locate and select interesting and like-minded couchsurfers to visit at home and interact with offline. CouchSurfing is a way to engage in tourism, but differs in many respects from traditional forms of tourism and may have more in common with the notion of postmodern tourism (new tourism — Featherstone 1991; Urry 2002), which emphasizes globalization and tourists’ motivations for authenticity and experiencing the real "local" cultures they visit. Bialski (2008) argues that couchsurfing websites are helping to form a new category of tourism (intimate tourism) only recently beginning to develop. Although similar studies have been conducted on other alternative forms of tourism and traveling (such as backpacking and staying in hostels) couchsurfing is still a relatively new phenomenon. While there have been times throughout history where welcoming strangers into your home and providing accommodations for a night was considered a customary part of society, this differs greatly from what couchsurfers are doing today since their accommodations are based less on necessity and more on the experiences gained through staying with a local while traveling. 1 Only a small amount of research has been published on couchsurfing so far. Very little information exists about the issues and problems many couchsurfers face. No one has yet attempted to fully describe the structure of couchsurfing (roles, rules, and social interactions) as well as the individuals who help create this community (their attitudes, motivations, behaviors,
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