The role of cultural context in the development of low‐capital ocean leisure activities

Abstract

The ocean beaches of the United States are an economically important resource. As American culture has become increasingly more preoccupied with leisure activities, however, traditional commercial interests along the beach have been replaced by expressive activities. In terms of the number of participants, the vast majority of beach users have performed their leisure activities without the benefit of sophisticated equipment or infrastructure, and without high‐capital expenditure; that is, they have been engaged in low‐capital beach uses. With particular reference to these low‐capital beach uses, this paper examines the role of culture in determining leisure beach activities using the example of the differential development of marine recreational fishing and surfing on the East and West Coasts of the United States. Based on participant observation, legal histories, and popular and academic literature one location on each coast was chosen, and the development of these two leisure activities compared and contrasted. Variations and changes in cultural contexts at the local and national levels were found to be important factors in explaining the observed differential development of these activities in the two locations.