Leisure, the Local State and the Welfare State: A Theoretical Overview

Until recently much of the study of local public leisure services in the U.S.A., Canada and the U.K. has not dealt systematically with the role played by the local state within the welfare state. The role of the local state with respect to leisure is, of course, pivotal in that it is at that level that the bulk of public leisure services are delivered. Moreover, given that state intervention in leisure is an increasingly accepted aspect of the welfare state, the role of the local state within the welfare state is crucial to any understanding of public leisure policies and programmes. Hence, it is argued that a more theoretically informed analysis of public leisure ought to be concerned with models of the local state and the relationship of the local state to the central welfare state. Toward this end, a review of liberal, neo-weberian, and neo-marxist models of the local state is undertaken. This is followed by an attempt to align these models with compatible theoretical approaches to the welfare state. A critical assessment is then carried out of several studies of public leisure which attempt to apply theories of the local state and/or the welfare state. Finally, it is argued that there is a need for more research into public leisure that takes into consideration some of the issues opened up by these theoretical models of the local state within the welfare state.