LEISURE STUDIES IN THE UNITED STATES—THE ENIGMATIC EIGHTIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT An analysis of the status of Leisure Studies Programs in the United States and a projection of trends for the 1980's is possible only within the context of a review of the existing circumstances in the following major substantive areas: (1) the current status of leisure and leisure services; (2) the current status of leisure studies (recreation and parks) programs in colleges and universities; and, (3) a directional look at the 1980's in terms of how leisure services and leisure studies programs may respond to projected societal issues and needs. The status of leisure services in the United States, as the decade of the 1970's comes to a close, may best be characterized through attention to the issues of quantity, quality, and distribution of discretionary time opportunities. After adjustment for the inflation factor, leisure spending, including public, private, and commercial, has demonstrated a continuing growth pattern during the 1970's. Despite this fact, there are serious questions being asked about both the quality or meaning of the experience to participants and also its unequal distribution in regard to excluded populations such as inner city minorities, the disabled, and the economically deprived in rural areas. Since 1965, almost 300 new leisure studies programs have been developed at community colleges, colleges and universities, and enrollments during this same period have grown by almost 25 000 students. The major challenges facing leisure studies programs in the 1980's will be of two kinds: (1) a critical analysis of enrollment patterns as these relate to the realistic societal needs for trained personnel; and, (2) a critical analysis of the leadership competencies must appropriate to societal needs in the area of leisure services as the “Enigmatic Eighties” unfold. A low growth economy, limited energy sources, inflation, unemployment, the needs of excluded populations such as minorities and the disabled, and environmental concerns are examples of critical societal issues which must be addressed during the 1980's. The role of the leisure services professional, and hence the orientation of training programs, seems headed toward a catalyst-facilitator function as opposed to the direct service-management function which has prevailed for decades.