Adventure in a Bun

Outdoor adventure, wherever it is to be found within recreation, education and training, is becoming another form of what Jarvie (1996) calls recreational capitalism. There is a growing body of evidence that what has been a social movement for our times (Crowther 1984) is now entering the market place and adopting market place values (Sessoms 1991). There is also evidence that, in the process, providers of outdoor adventure are leaving behind the values of the social movement that gave rise to the field. In so doing they are in danger of allowing the market to do to outdoor adventure what it has done elsewhere, that is to disassociate people from their experience of community and place. I want to examine the evidence for this trend and to see whether there is any hope for the survival of the values of the founding social movement of outdoor adventure.