Hospitality: a social lens follows on from the unique contribution made by In Search of Hospitality: theoretical perspectives and debates. It progresses debate, challenges the boundaries of ways of knowing hospitality, and offers intellectual insights stimulated by the study of hospitality. The contributing authors provide tangible evidence of continuing advancement and development of knowledge pertaining to the phenomenon of hospitality. They draw on the richness of the social sciences, taking host and guest relations as a means of studying in-group and out-group relations with and between societies. The chapter contributors represent a multi-disciplinary, international grouping of leading academics with expertise in hospitality management and education, human resource management, linguistics, modern languages, gastronomy, history, human geography, art, architecture, anthropology, and sociology. Each lends their expertise to apply as a social lens through which to view, analyse, and explore hospitality within a range of contexts. Through this process novel ways of interpreting, knowing and sense-making emerge that are captured in the final chapter of the book, and have informed future research themes which are explored.

Chapter 1 Hospitality: An Introduction, Conrad Lashley, Paul Lynch, Alison Morrison; Chapter 2 Dimensions of Hospitality: Exploring Ancient and Classical Origins, Kevin D O'Gorman; Chapter 3 Transgressing Hospitality: Polarities and Disordered Relationships?, Colin Sheringham, Pheroza Daruwalla; Chapter 4 Hospitality and Gastronomy: Natural Allies, Barbara Santich; Chapter 5 Hospitality and Tourism in Ngadha: An Ethnographic Exploration, Stroma Cole; Chapter 6 The Role of the Hospitality Industry in Cultural Assimilation: A Case Study from Colonial Australia, Barry O'Mahony; Chapter 7 Hospitality and Urban Regeneration, David Bell; Chapter 8 Commodifying Space: Hotels and Pork Bellies, Annabel Wharton; Chapter 9 Commercial Home Enterprises: Identity, Space and Setting, MariaLaura Di Domenico, Paul Lynch; Chapter 10 Inhospitable Hospitality?, George Ritzer; Chapter 11 The Power of Hospitality: A Sociolinguistic Analysis, Martha Robinson, Paul Lynch; Chapter 12 Opening Pandora's Box: Aesthetic Labour and Hospitality, Dennis Nickson, Chris Warhurst; Chapter 13 Ways of Knowing Hospitality, Conrad Lashley, Paul Lynch, Alison Morrison;