The Dance of the Dispossessed: On Patriarchy, Feminism and the Practice of Leisure Science

This article questions the wisdom of the patriarchal worldview underlying the practice of much contemporary social science. First, the assumptions informing such a worldview are challenged; the separation of humankind from nature, the mechanization of the Earth, and objectivity in science. Second, the limitations of a patriarchal perspective for guiding social science in general and leisure science in particular are examined. Third, ways in which feminist thinking may contribute to the development of a more connected and caring leisure science, a leisure science characterized by an ultimate goal of felicity are discussed.