Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1997

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Sociology

Major Professor

Suzanne B. Kurth

Committee Members

Michael L. Benson, David L. Slywester

Abstract

Leisure is first and foremost a social phenomenon, embedded in the time and place of the culture in which it is found. This thesis explores several aspects of the process of leisure socialization, including development of leisure identities and the relative attractiveness of leisure activities, by focusing on utilization of U.S. national parks. After analyzing the research literature, I offer suggestions from the social psychological literature to supplement the structural explanations found in the majority of the studies of racial differences in leisure participation.

Black Americans undergo different leisure experiences than do white Americans. Specifically, when compared with whites, blacks are less likely to participate in wilderness activities such as hiking and camping, and are less likely to visit the national parks. Sociologists have proposed several explanations to account for differences in leisure behavior between blacks and whites. These efforts usually rely on traditional demographic concepts, such as social class, social status, and race, but fail to recognize the importance of leisure socialization. Structural conditions account for part of the differences in utilization of the national parks, but a broader understanding must also include social psychological explanations. In this thesis, I illustrate how these racial conditions, both social psychological and structural, result in low levels of utilization of the national parks by black Americans.

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