Directions for Leisure Research: A Critique of the Radical View

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Abstract
This article is divided into two main parts. The first provides an account of the radical view of leisure research as it has emerged in recent literature. This focuses upon views of social class as the main dimension of social composition in leisure groups, explanations of change which stress the causal significance of class conflict, and theories relating to the social significance of leisure groups for ideological control and class domination. The second section of the article provides a critique of the radical view and suggests an alternative formulation of research orientations and issues. In particular, a range of significant dimensions in the social composition of leisure groups is postulated, and conceptual formulations are proposed for the study of change which take account of configurational and multifactor approaches. The suggestion is made that the nature of the satisfactions derived by participants from their pursuit of leisure activities should be an essential feature of any analysis of the social significance of leisure provision.

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