Lecture 1
The importance of leisure for (Dutch) society and economy:
Source of personal development/well-being
Vehicle for social integration
Stimulus for urban and regional development
Leisure may be:
Everything that is not work – ‘non-obligatory’ time
Free choice, exercising ‘free will’
Extra-ordinary, not the daily routine
Doing something valuable / Meaningful experiences
Pleasure, amusement, excitement
Re-creation, relaxation
Boring, wasting time
Defining leisure
- Free from obligations, routines or the ordinary stuff of daily life
- Free to engage in pleasurable valuable activities
1.) Time-based
Time use studies
Opposite of work; time left after obligations (objective)
+: objective, measureable, comparable through time and across countries
-: does not say anything about quality of life
2.) Activity-based
Undertake an activity selected by free will
Sport, culture, volunteer work, family visits
3.) Experience-based
A. Attitude. Leisure as a state of mind can occur any time, also during work
Individual perception defines what leisure is
B. Quality. Quality time provides an opportunity for play and for personal and social development
1.) Time based objective
2.) Activity-based objective / subjective
3.) Experience-based subjective
Wippler 1968: Leisure is all the time not devoted to regular work or other regular daily activities,
going to and coming from work (-like activities), sleep, eating and personal care
Knulst 1977: Leisure is the sum of activities that do not belong to paid work, education, household
and physical needs
Neulinger 1981: Leisure has one essential criterion, and that is the condition of perceived freedom.
To leisure implies being engaged in an activity as free agent and of one’s own choice
,Study leisure from different disciplines:
History: changing meaning of leisure, changing leisure activities
Psychology: experience, flow, feeling busy, stress, well-being, health benefits, cognitive,
social and emotional development
Sociology: time is structuring society, collective rhythms, leisure can unite or divide
Geography: time geography, time and distance
Economics: time is money, leisure is a large economic industry, leisure expenditure, leisure
employment
Politics: public investments, promoting desirable leisure behavior, reduce negative leisure
impacts
Leisure activities on offer + individuals and their preferences = leisure behavior
Lecture 2
History of leisure
Primitive societies:
‘Time’ was cyclical
No clocks, no hours, no calendar
Nature-based rhythm of life (tides, moon, sun, seasons)
F.i.: When do we start working? At sunset
No clear segregation between work and leisure
There was not such a thing as ‘leisure’
‘Leisure’ activities: playing games, joking, music, dance, storytelling
Classical times:
Ancient Greek philosophers’ leisure ethic
Despite work; work is done by slaves
Leisure activities: music, talk, philosophy, self-development
- Leisure as opposed to work
- Leisure as freedom
- Leisure as a social and cultural activity
Roman Empire:
Abundant leisure, the good life
Thermae, spas, baths
Development of coliseums, theatres: events and spectator sports (gladiator, horse racing)
Middle ages – medieval era: 500-1400 AD
Labour was task-oriented
Blurring of work and leisure
Christian calendar as determinant of leisure
Festival and event-based activities of nobility and knights
‘Dancing, feasting, other pleasures of the flesh’
Men: drinking, gambling
Women: socializing
Travel to other cities for business purpose: alehouse (now: pub)
, Renaissance – reformation
Protestants: work is an end in itself
The Protestant work ethic
Question the value of leisure
Leisure is idleness, lazy, useless
Also here and now: ‘Protestants have lower participation in most of the leisure activities, except
singing and making music, which they do more than the average’
Industrial societies
- The mechanical clock decides rhythm of life
- F.i.: When do we start working? At 8am
- Factory system transformed people’s lives
- Separation of work (factory) and leisure (home)
- Migration to cities
- Labour became time-oriented (12-14 hours per day)
- Leisure became opposite of work
- Capitalism: work is more productive than leisure
20th century: Post-industrial / Post-modern societies
- 1919 – 1935
‘Quest for leisure’ Demand 8-8-8
Rise of annual holidays and day trips
Rise of mass leisure
Cinema, dance halls, spectator sports
State intervention: parks, swimming pools, libraries
- 1950s – 1960s
State provision of leisure services
Rising standards of domestic consumption
Emergence of youth culture: 60s flower power, hippy, bohemian lifestyle,
large outdoor festivals
- 1970s – 1980s Rise of consumer society
Leisure and consumption dominate over work ‘the consumer society’
Women enter labour market: Dual-job family
Harried Leisure Class (Linder)
Economic recession
Declining state involvement
New commercial leisure services (shopping malls)
- 1990s – now
Continued decline of state involvement
Individualization of leisure
Experience economy
Hedonistic activities (pleasure, entertainment, casual leisure)
Schor 1991: Work-and-spend cycle
More fluid work-leisure boundaries: work during leisure, leisure during work
Leisure is s complex phenomenon