Why Hiking? Rationality and Reflexivity Within Three Categories of Meaning Construction

Abstract

Hiking is a popular leisure activity among people in many industrialised countries. In the case of Norway, a large part of the population goes hiking through forests, mountains and cultural landscapes. What meaning do these hikers attach to their activity? An analysis has been made of letters received from 84 hikers who write about how and why they enjoy their hiking trips. Employing a grounded theory approach, three categories of meaning constructions were identified: a recreation category, a category of the simple outdoors discourse, and a belonging category. In all of these, the hikers see their trips and their further lives in relation to constitutive aspects of modern society. Concepts of rationality and reflexivity were found useful for the interpretation of the meaning contents of each of the categories.

KEYWORDS:

• Outdoor recreation
• Hiking
• Outdoors
• Friluftsliv
• Rationality
• Reflexivity
• Modernity
• Norway
• Grounded theory
• Ecotourism