Reflections on Measuring Discrimination: The Case of Outdoor Recreation

Abstract

Much discussion in this journal is concerned with diverse societies, and the many forms of claiming, contesting, accommodating, negotiating and coping with heterogeneity in communal life (Bolt & van Kempen 2011; Smith & Guarnizo 2014). Some of these consider how spaces and environments facilitate or deter inter-ethnic contact, and the effects of that inter-ethnic contact on individuals’ behaviour and well-being (e.g., most recently, Heringa et al. 2014). While many studies in this journal focus on residential areas, inter-ethnic contacts can also take place in natural environments or greenspace, namely through outdoor recreation. Participation in outdoor recreation in greenspace may therefore be contingent on emergent negotiations of social belonging and identification, and the myriad possibilities for inclusive diversity or for exclusion that make up behaviour in the commons. In Europe, research on immigrants’ or ethnic groups’ outdoor recreation or leisure has mainly focused on participation and behaviour as influenced by cultural background and socio-economic position (Jay et al. 2012; Kloek et al. 2013a). Yet, like many other sites of ‘everyday multiculturalism’ (Wise & Velayutham 2009), participation – or lack of participation – in these zones of encounter with diverse others may also be influenced by negative encounters, or perceived discrimination. Attention to perceived discrimination has only recently been taken up in relation to outdoor recreation, especially in the US (e.g. Livengood & Stodolska 2004), but not much in Europe. Recently, members of our team executed one of the first quantitative studies on outdoor recreational patterns of immigrant and non-immigrant groups in Europe – specifically, in the Netherlands – with focus on participation, behaviour, and perceived discrimination. Particular attention was paid to the experience of perceived discrimination during outdoor recreation and the potential for perceived discrimination to constrain recreational practices. The questionnaire sample targeted Dutch from Chinese, Turkish and non-immigrant backgrounds. We hypothesised that Dutch-Turkish (officially referred to as ‘Turkish migrants’ in the Netherlands) would report perceptions of discrimination more than either of the other groups, as Dutch public discourse largely focuses negative attention on Turkish and Moroccan, that is, predominantly Muslim communities (see Dagevos et al. 2007). Muslims and Turkish or Moroccan communities are both often framed as a threat to the