Book Review: Leisure and Government
| Author | Ken Harrop |
| Published date | 01 March 1991 |
| Date | 01 March 1991 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/014473949101100106 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Teaching
Public
Administration:
Spring
1991
vol.XI
no.1
pp.55-73
BOOK
REVIEWS
Leisure
and
Government
by
IAN
ADAMS.
(Sunderland,
Business
Education
Publishers,
1990,
pp.214,
£10.95.)
My
own
approach
to
teaching
the
government
and
administration
ot
leisure
is
to
locate
activities
such
as
tourism
or
arts
management
in
the
context
of
a
complex
web
of
provision
where
both
public
and
private
sector
organisations
share
in
a mixed
economy
of
production.
Within
the
structure
of
government
itself,
particularly
in
the
so-called
modern,
western-type
states,
this
fragmentation
and
complexity
is
replicated;
a
diverse
range
of
authorities,
agencies
and
organisations
is
involved,
many
of
them
not
obviously
or
principally
concerned
with
the
development
of
the
business
of
leisure.
Such
a
public
administration-
type
approach
is
very
much
that
followed
by
Ian
Adams
in
this
offering
from
Paul
Callaghan's
Sunderland-based
Business
Education
Publishers.
The
structure
and
contents
of
the
book
are
straightforward
enough.
Adams
has
two
general
(and
probably
the
least
satisfactory)
chapters
on
central
government
and
leisure,
and
local
government
and
leisure,
followed
by
a
series
of
chapters
on
particular
components
and
sectors
of
the
leisure
industry.
In
turn,
these
are:
broadcasting
and
government;
the
arts
and
government;
the
countryside
and
government;
sport
and
government;
tourism
and
government;
and
heritage
and
government.
In
each
of
these
very
readable
and
very
usetul
chapters,
Adams
describes
the
nature,
structure
and
substance
of
government
involvement
in
each
of
these
activities
in
the
UK.
There
is
hardly
any
theorising
and
virtually
no
comparison
but
for
perhaps
the
first
time
we
have
a
simple
yet
comprehensive
account
of
the
extent
of
government
involvement
in
leisure
in
Britain.
The
volume
clearly
fills
a
gap
in
the
literature.
Particular
strengths
lie
in
its
assembly
and
clear
summary
ot
materials
drawn
from
a
wide
range
of
sources
and
its
up-to-date
information.
On
the
latter
point,
for
example,
the
author's
map
of
the
European
Community
in
1990
shows
East
Germany
joined
through
German
reunification
(although
at
the
expense
of
Luxembourg!),
the
chapter
on
broadcasting
includes
discussion
of
the
1988 White
Paper
and
subsequent
debates
as
well
as
acknowledgement
of
National
Power's
sponsorship
of
the
1990
football
World
Cup
finals
in
Italy,
his
chapter
on
the
arts
includes
discussion
of
the
Wilding
Report
and
government's
response.
And
so
on.
All
of
this
will
be
useful
to
the
intended
readership.
On
the
negative
side,
there
are
several
weaknesses.
Some,
especially
those
principally
familiar
with
the
author
via
his
earlier
volume
The
Logic
of
Political Belief: a
philosophical
analysis
of
ideology
(1989)
may
jus.tifiably
lament
the
absence
of
any
attempt
to
otter
much
theoretical
stimulation.
The
introduction
at
least
ot a
comparative
perspective
may
have
been
illuminating.
Such
however
were
clearly
not
the
author's
intentions
on
this
occasion,
yet
even
as
the
volume
stands
there
is
55
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