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Wilderness Solitude in the 21St Century Thomas C University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Graduate School Professional Papers 2018 Wilderness Solitude in the 21st Century Thomas C. Lang University of Montana, Missoula Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Part of the Environmental Studies Commons, Philosophy of Mind Commons, and the Science and Technology Studies Commons Recommended Citation Lang, Thomas Cavanaugh, "Wilderness Solitude in the 21st Century" (2018). This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Wilderness Solitude in the 21st Century By Thomas Cavanaugh Lang B.A. – University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 2010 Master’s Thesis Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Recreation Management The University of Montana Missoula, MT May 2018 Approved by: Scott Whittenburg, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Dr. William T. Borrie, Chair Department of Society and Conservation Dr. Jennifer Thomsen Department of Society and Conservation Dr. Alan Watson Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute i © COPYRIGHT by Thomas Cavanaugh Lang 2018 All Rights Reserved ii Lang, Thomas Cavanaugh, M.S., May 2018 Recreation Management Department of Society & Conservation Wilderness Solitude in the 21st Century Chairperson: Bill Borrie Recent advances in mobile communication technology have led to a decrease in opportunities for individuals to experience alone-time within daily life. As a result, the solitude offered by wilderness landscapes has become all the more valuable. Past research on wilderness solitude has been divided into two distinct frameworks: the Social-Spatial Perspective and the Humanistic Perspective. This distinction has severely limited the development of a comprehensive research model that incorporates all the possible conditions relating to wilderness solitude. This study synthesized past research and theory to create a quantitative model of wilderness solitude which includes elements from both research perspectives, while incorporating novel conditions that relate to digital connectivity. Study participants were wilderness visitors to Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex during the summer and fall of 2017. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four components of wilderness solitude. These components suggest that our interpretation of the “opportunities for solitude” clause within the Wilderness Act of 1964 ought to consider the themes of Societal Release, Introspection, Physical Separation and De- tethering from Digital Connectivity. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi Chapter I: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Section 1.1 – Background – A New Epoch in the Human Condition ................................................................3 Section 1.2 - Wilderness Solitude in the 21st Century ...............................................................................7 Section 1.3 – A Conceptual Definition of Wilderness Solitude ...............................................................10 Separation ..............................................................................................................................................11 Release ...................................................................................................................................................11 Introspection ............................................................................................................................................12 Impermanent ...........................................................................................................................................13 Section 1.4 - Research Purpose ...............................................................................................................14 Research Questions .............................................................................................................................14 Chapter II: Literature Review .............................................................................................. 15 Section 2.1 – Introduction .......................................................................................................................15 Section 2.2 – Past Research on Wilderness Solitude ...............................................................................16 Section 2.3 – Indicators and Measures in the Social-Spatial Perspective ...............................................18 Encounters ...........................................................................................................................................18 Carrying Capacity, Crowding and Visitor Use Density .....................................................................20 Privacy .................................................................................................................................................22 Section 2.4 – Indicators and Frameworks in the Humanistic Perspective ..............................................25 Attitudes towards Solitude ..................................................................................................................26 Psychological Detachment from Society .............................................................................................27 The Capacity to be Alone ...................................................................................................................28 Introspection .......................................................................................................................................29 Section 2.5 – Hypothesized Two Dimensional Model of Wilderness Solitude .......................................30 The Physical Dimension .....................................................................................................................31 The Psychological Dimension .............................................................................................................33 Section 2.6 – Study Hypotheses ..............................................................................................................35 Chapter III: Methods .............................................................................................................. 36 Section 3.1 – Introduction .......................................................................................................................36 Section 3.2 – Study Location ...................................................................................................................36 Section 3.3 – Study Population & Sample Design ..................................................................................38 Section 3.4 – Survey Instrument .............................................................................................................39 Survey Breakdown ..............................................................................................................................40 Scale Items for the Physical Dimension ..............................................................................................42 Scale Items for the Psychological Dimension ......................................................................................43 Measurement Scale .............................................................................................................................44 Section 3.4 – Data Collection ..................................................................................................................44 Section 3.5 – Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................45 Chapter IV: Results ................................................................................................................. 47 Section 4.1 – Descriptive Statistics ..........................................................................................................47 Section 4.2 – Cross-tabulations ...............................................................................................................52 Section 4.3 – Comparison with Past Visitor Characteristics in the BMWC ...........................................55 Section 4.4 – Visitor Motivations ............................................................................................................60 Section 4.5 – The 23-item Wilderness Solitude Scale .............................................................................63 Section 4.5 – Summary ...........................................................................................................................65 iv Chapter V: Analysis ................................................................................................................. 67 Section 5.1 – Dimensionality ...................................................................................................................68 Section 5.2 –
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