Ways of Learning about Leisure Meanings

This article examines the epistemological claims made by four paradigms used to study leisure meanings: behaviorism, cognitivism, individual constructivism, and social constructivism.These paradigms represent diverseand contrasting theoretical explanations of how individuals gain knowledge about and givemeaning to the phenomenon of leisure and of how these meanings differ and change. Analysis of each paradigm illustrates limitations in their capacity to explain how individuals learn about leisure and suggests the need for alternative explanations. Arguments are advanced in favor of an experientialist paradigm characterized by a research specialization called phenomenography as an additional and complementary theoretical approach to studying the multiple meanings of leisure.