Breaking boundaries and barriers: Future directions in cross-cultural research

The level and degree of understanding of the nature and meaning of leisure in the lives of blacks, native-Americans, Hispanics, and other ethnic minority populations within the United States is lacking. Most research to date has utilized a social aggregate approach to the study of ethnic/racial differentiation; such research overlooks the dynamics and complexity of ethnicity within poly-ethnic, pluralistic societies. The objectives of this article are: 1) to present an overview of the types of research which have been conducted among ethnic/racial populations within the U.S., 2) to discuss several ideological and theoretical assumptions which underlie such approaches, and 3) to present several alternative theoretical and methodological approaches which might prove more meaningful in attempts to understand the dynamics of cultural diversity.