Race, Class, and Leisure Activity Preferences: Marginality and Ethnicity Revisited

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between race, leisure preferences, and class awareness. Based on interest-group theory of class identification, we hypothesized that blacks and whites who define themselves similarly in terms of social class would exhibit similar leisure activity preferences. Data to test this hypothesis came from a national probability survey of 1,607 U.S. adults. The results of the analysis showed similarities in leisure preferences between blacks and whites who defined themselves as middle class. Patterns of leisure preferences, however, tended to diverge among blacks and whites who defined themselves as poor or working class. This divergence was attributed in part to differences between black and white females of the poor or working class.

KEYWORDS:

• Race
• social class
• leisure
• recreation
• subjective social class