Black under‐participation in wildland recreation: Alternative explanations

Two alternative perspectives on Black underparticipation in wildland recreation are discussed: (1) marginality (that underparticipation results from preventive factors such as poverty and discrimination), and (2) ethnicity (that recreational patterns are based on subcultural leisure norms and value systems). Data from a 1969 survey of urban California Blacks and whites cast doubt on marginality as an explanation; ethnicity as an alternative explanation should be explored, in that differences could result from leisure style and those normative restraints within the Black community that temper leisure choices.