For leisure, the pluralistic perspective of society has far-reaching policy con- 

 sequences. First, equalizing intergroup recreation participation (beyond reducing ob- 

 vious inhibitive factors) is no longer a necessarily appropriate policy goal. If 

 everyone's values are no longer presumed to fit within the same normative distribution, 

 and leisure choices assumed as a product of such values, then rates of participation in 

 activities cannot be expected to equalize once opportunities to participate are evenly 

 available. Hence, all members of society are no longer potentially likely users of 

 public recreation resources (especially nonurban wildlands), and public support of such 

 resources may constitute subsidy of particular groups at the exclusion of others. If 

 policy goals are to enhance leisure that contributes most to interpersonal and community 

 solidarity, then they may include accepting diverging leisure styles for minorities in 

 respect to Whites, if leisure indeed plays a role in cultural identity as has been 

 suggested. For Blacks this may mean support for activities in which they differ most 

 from Whites, rather than concentrating on bringing Black rates up to UTiite levels, 

 especially in wildland recreation. Similarly, campaigns to redress imbalances in White 

 and Black use of national and state park and forest resources would be dubiously appro- 

 priate or effective under pluralistic assumptions, especially if inhibitory causal 

 factors were found no longer operative. Different ethnic and cultural groups would be 

 the best judges of their own recreational preferences. 



If leisure policies are to facilitate the well-being of all individuals, they must 

 be based on knowledge of how leisure functions in different elements of society. Deci- 

 sionmakers are now turning away from broad prescriptions for outdoor recreation deemed 

 "good for everyone," and focusing more on specific needs of different groups. If these 

 group needs are to be served, policies must account for both unique problems and socio- 

 cultural attributes of groups as they constrain and guide leisure choices. Further 

 study of the different ways by which ethnic identity is maintained may facilitate these 

 processes . 



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