Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
emphasise continuity, change and the role of spatial separation of social classes in past
periods as factors which affected the past use of rural locales.
THE GEOGRAPHER'S CONTRIBUTION TO THEORETICAL
DEBATE IN RURAL CONTEXTS
Within any research area, progress is often gauged in terms of the extent to which the
subject contributes to the development of theory. As Perkins (1993) argued, a
social scientist's primary role is to develop theories about society.
Theories are sets of logically inter-related statements about phenomena,
such as recreation and leisure. The reason for developing such theories is
to help us understand the world humans make for themselves. It is on the
basis of the understanding reached in the development of these theories
that we plan and manage particular social phenomena.
(Perkins 1993:116)
As Owens (1984:174) argued, 'during the mid-1970s there was a hiatus in leisure and
recreation research which marked a profound change from the enthusiastic promotion of
agency dependent ad hoc applied research to an evaluative phase characterised by
introspection and self-criticism' since, prior to 1975, the generation of empirical case
studies dominated the literature. After 1975 calls from North American researchers for a
greater consideration of leisure behaviour and its contribution to theory was advocated.
For example, critical reviews by researchers (e.g. Patmore 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980;
Coppock 1980; Mercer 1979a; Patmore and Collins 1981), to name but a few, reiterated
these criticisms, and Patmore (1977:115) poignantly summarised the position where 'this
review reveals continuing and glaring gaps in British research, not least in a better
understanding of the nature and motivation of recreation demand and in the development
of an effective body of integrative theory'.
A series of new texts in the 1980s (e.g. Kelly 1982; S.L.J.Smith 1983a; Torkildsen
1983) and the appearance of two journals,
Leisure Studies
and
Leisure Sciences,
raised
the need for more theoretically determined research, but only a limited range of studies
by geographers focused on theoretical and conceptual issues (e.g. Owens 1984) while
other disciplines contributed to the debate in a more vigorous and central manner (e.g.
Graefe et al. 1984a). Despite large-scale research funding by government research
agencies (e.g. the Social Science Research Council in the UK) in the 1970s and 1980s, a
lack of concern for theory has meant that geographers have made little impact on the
problem that
the large body of rural outdoor recreation research has not been
consolidated in more theoretical work but one wonders whether
researchers have set themselves an intellectual challenge which they are
unable to meet. Certainly, there is now a steady flow of publication, albeit
mainly directed to traditional ends, and because of this the argument that
