rls223 8. race, ethnicity, culture and leisure

race

• Concerned with shared physical features

• e.g.,skin colour, hair texture, facial structure

ethnicity

• Concerned with shared sociocultural properties

• e.g., values, traditions, food preferences

as the world becomes more connected and accessible…

there will be increased opportunity for leisure with different cultures

• the more we understand trends in different parts of the world, it can help us guide our leisure along with program development

• However, leisure research exploring the role of culture, particularly in non-Western contexts, is limited.

a brief background on race, ethnicity and culture

• Much of the early work on race, ethnicity, and culture was descriptive.

  • descriptive —> observing trends and coming up with ideas or theories based on those trends (but the theories are not tested well, just observed. no WHY!) a LIMITATION that still exists today

• Explanations were seldom theory-based.

• Increased work is being done in this area.

• When considering culture and differences in leisure participation, there are five explanations for such variations:

  • Marginality and subcultural hypothesis

  • Perceived discrimination

  • Acculturation

  • Ethnicity and public recreation participation model

  • Ideal and actual affect

marginality and subcultural hypothesis

• Based on the assertion that underparticipation in leisure activity occurs when members of a racial or ethnic group are either not encouraged or allowed to be part of the larger society due to:

  • Marginality hypothesis

  • Subcultural hypothesis

marginality hypothesis

Consequences of socioeconomic discrimination (e.g., lack of nearby facilities, inadequate transportation)

• any barriers that prevent people from partaking in leisure. how the STRUCTURE of society is an obstacle to someone participating in leisure

subcultural hypothesis

Norms, values, and socialization patterns of the group members do not align with the activity.

• how the ideas of the culture influence leisure participation. how the IDEAS of society are an obstacle to someone participating in leisure

• e.g., cultures where everything is done together may not participate in solo leisure like golf, but rather group leisure like family events

perceived discrimination

• concerned with:

  • Perceived personal discrimination: person feeling unsafe or uncomfortable participating in a leisure activity due other people.

    • maybe because they are more skilled than you, maybe they bully you or are giving threats. the actions, feelings, behaviours or lack thereof of others that makes you feel uncomfy

  • Institutional discrimination: person feeling less able, or unable, to participate in a leisure activity due to barriers of an agency or organization, which can be unintentionally constructed.

    • limited transport, accessibility, high costs, etc. that limit someone form participating

Research highlighted three common responses to discrimination:

• Verbal and/or physical confrontation. “why are you making me feel uncomfortable??”

• Withdrawal and passive acceptance. “bye”

• Changes in leisure behaviour. “bye im doing another leisure / bringing more friends to feel safer”

acculturation

• refers to the changes an individual or group of people experience as a result of contact with another group. There are four types of acculturation approaches:

  • Assimilation (desiring to absorb into mainstream culture and shed heritage culture).

    • bye old culture, hello new culture!

  • Separation (holding on to heritage culture and keeping mainstream culture at bay).

    • hello new culture, but i still prioritize / hold onto my old culture! —> moving but still participating in old culture activities and not new ones. e.g., i move and i try tinikling rather than a new culture activity

  • Integration (desiring to maintain heritage culture and be involved in mainstream culture).

    • hello old culture and hello new culture! —> the middle ground. loving both the old and the new culture, and engaging in both! e.g., celebrating filipino day and also canada day!

  • Marginalization (unable or unwilling to hold on to heritage culture but also is unable or unwilling to be involved in mainstream culture).

    • bye old culture, bye new culture —> inability OR unwilling. worst of the worst. you let go of your past culture and are still struggling to accept the new one

Three key themes surrounding how leisure may change when joining a new culture (aka in acculturation):

• latent demand

• forbidden fruit effect

• demonstration effect

Latent demand

• New members may be able to now do certain activities that they have been intrinsically interested in but couldn’t previously due to constraints or barriers.

  • new members feeling like they can do activities they wanted to that they could not do before. intrinsic motivation required for this one

  • “I wasn’t able to do that thing i was motivated to do before but now i can”

Forbidden fruit effect

• New members may engage in activities not due to intrinsic interest, but rather, because the activities are new or novel.

  • not really intrinsically motivated (can still have some tho!) but they wanna do it cause its new

  • “i didn’t have access to this before and now i do so i wanna try it”

Demonstration effect

• New members may participate in activities because of the perceived popularity of the activity among members of the new culture.

  • when new members join something or move somewhere they will do activities that are peceived to be important in that culture. does not really have to do with intrinsic motivation, but rather that people do it so you wanna hop on the bandwagon.

  • “i wanna engage in this because others find it valuble.”

  • “i’m gonna play hockey because everyone in edmonton values hockey.”

ethnicity and public recreation participation model

• The Ethnicity and Public Recreation Participation Model (EPRP model) posits that five core factors influence leisure participation:

  • Socioeconomic status

  • Subcultural identity

  • Perceived discrimination

  • Acculturation

  • Perceived benefits of recreation

• The EPRP model incorporates the explanations that we have discussed so far!

ideal and actual effect

• To understand leisure preferences, it is important to understand how people really feel (i.e., their actual affect) and how people want to feel (i.e., their ideal affect).

• People may select specific mood-producing leisure activities to reduce the discrepancy between their actual and ideal affect.

• Cultural factors may influence which type of affect an individual considers ideal, which may impact subsequent leisure activities. (USA v. China example in notes!)