A Preliminary Bicultural Study of Value Orientations and Leisure Attitudes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify certain relationships of value orientations and leisure attitudes through considering the variables of socioeconomic status and ethnic background. The theory of variations in value orientations reported by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961) and the research of Neulinger and Breit (1969) on attitude dimensions of leisure provided the theoretical framework. The four pancultural questions considered common human problems for all people were time, activity, man nature and relational orientations. The leisure factors were: (1) amount of work or vacation desired, (2) self-definition through work and leisure, (3) amount of perceived leisure, (4) affinity to leisure, and (5) society's role in leisure planning. A theory was constructed postulating that subgroups identified as being variant in value orientations would also subscribe to variant leisure attitudes. Eighty male teachers and custodians representing two ethnic backgrounds and two levels of socioeconomic status were randomly drawn from personnel lists of the Albuquerque public schools in June 1970. Specifically, 20 Anglo teachers, 20 Anglo custodians, 20 Mexican-American teachers and 20 Mexican-American custodians made up the sample. Two basic analyses were performed: analysis of variance and the Newman-Keuls test for paired differences. The major finding was that one subgroup was identified as being variant in its value orientations and leisure attitudes thus supporting the basic hypothesis. Mexican-American custodians expressed value alternative preferences (present, doing, subjugation-to-nature, and lineality) that were variant from those of the dominant group (future or present, doing, mastery-over-nature and individualism). This subgroup was also the most variant in leisure attitudes. Mexican-Americans in general were the most positively oriented toward leisure, finding in it the greatest measure of self-definition. All groups disapproved of a strong societal role in leisure planning.