ABSTRACT

Decisions regarding second home owners' position in a host community (assigned rights, influence and further privileges - or the lack of such) have a moral dimension. At the core of the issue is the question of how local resources should be distributed between year-round residents and second home owners as a kind of hybrid between tourists and part-time residents. In this chapter, moral considerations regarding this issue are presented and explained by referring to research conducted in Norway. The chapter gives an account for two different approaches to social organization (a sedentarist perspective and a mobilities paradigm perspective) that may be used as a basis for policy concerning second home owners' position, and the moral implications of these two approaches are discussed. It concludes that the question of second home owners' position in the host community is a moral dilemma, where any solution may bring about unfortunate results from various perspectives. Thus, social scientists' role should be to make sure that every perspective and potential consequences inform the debates, so that decision makers at various levels can make well-considered decisions in this matter.