Sociology of leisure
Encyclopedia
Sociology of leisure is the study of how humans organize their free time
. Leisure is difficult to define, and includes a broad array of activities, such as sport
, tourism
, and the playing of game
s. The sociology of leisure is closely tied to the sociology of work, as each explores a different side of the work-leisure relationship. More recent studies in the field move away from the work-leisure relationship and focus on the relation between leisure and culture
.
Studies of leisure have determined that observable patterns cannot be easily explained by socioeconomic variables such as income, occupation or education. The type of leisure activity is substantially influenced by the individual's immediate situation (presence or lack of family, age, and other factors).
, and sociology of education
: it saw most of its development in the second half of the 20th century. Until then, leisure had often been seen as a relatively unimportant, minor feature of society
. Leisure is now recognized as a major social institution, deserving of serious sociological inquiry, particularly in Western societies.
As John Wilson and others have noted, it is difficult to define leisure
. Its definitions are numerous and often mutually contradictory, for example as a discrete portion of one's time or as a quality of experience irrespective of time. Joffre Dumazedier distinguished four distinct definitions of leisure, which begin broadly and gradually narrow in scope. The first and broadest defines leisure as a style of behavior that may occur even at work, the second defines it as any non-work activity; the third further excludes family and household obligations; and, finally, the narrowest defines leisure as activities dedicated to self-fulfillment. Dumazedier's four definitions are not exhaustive. Incompatible definitions and measures are seen as a major factor accounting for occasionally contradictory research findings.
There are some unresolved questions concerning the definition of work: in particular, whether unpaid endeavors, such as volunteering or studying, are work. Non-work time should not be equated with free time, as it comprises not only free time, dedicated to leisure, but also time dedicated to certain obligatory activities, such as housework. Dividing activities into free and dedicated time is not easy. For example, brushing one's teeth is neither work nor leisure; scholars differ in their classifications of activities such as eating a meal, shopping, repairing a car, attending a religious ceremony, or showering (various individuals may or may not classify such activities as leisure). The relation between work and leisure can also be unclear: research indicates that some individuals find skills that they have acquired at work useful to their hobbies (and vice versa), and some individuals have used leisure activities to advance their work careers. Sociologists also disagree as to whether political or spiritual activities should be included in studies of leisure. Further, among some occupational communities, such as police officers or miners, it is common for work colleagues to be off-time friends and to share similar, work-based leisure activities.
Apart from a definition of leisure, there are other questions of theoretical concern to the sociologist of leisure. For example, quantifying the results is difficult, as time-budget studies have noted that a given amount of time (for example, an hour) may have different values, depending on when it occurs—within a day, a week, or a year. Finally, as with many other fields of inquiry in the social sciences, the study of the sociology of leisure is hampered by the lack of reliable data for comparative longitudinal studies
, as there was little to no standardized data-gathering on leisure throughout most of human history. The lack of longitudinal studies has been remedied in the last few decades by recurring national surveys such as the General Household Survey
in the United Kingdom
(ongoing since 1971). In addition to surveys, an increasing number of studies have been focusing on qualitative methods
of research (interviews
).
. Marshall Gordon noted that there are two approaches in the study of leisure: formal and historical-theoretical. The formal approach focuses on empirical
questions, such as the shifting of leisure patterns over an individual's life cycle
, the relation between leisure and work, and specific forms of leisure (such as the sociology of sport
). The historical-theoretical approach studies the relation between leisure and social change
, often from structural-functionalist and neo-Marxist perspectives. Sheila Scraton provided a different analysis, comparing North America
n and British
studies. The British approaches focus on input from pluralism
, critical Marxism, and feminism
; the American approaches concentrate on the social-psychological
tradition.
, occupation
or education
. This has yielded fewer results than expected; income is associated with total money spent on such activities, but otherwise only determines what type of activities are affordable. Occupation has a similar effect, because most occupations heavily influence a person's income (for example, membership in a prestigious occupation and "country-club
" activities such as golf or sailing are significantly correlated
--but so is membership in those occupations and high income, and those activities with high cost). Education is correlated with having a wide range of leisure activities, and with higher dedication to them. As Kelly noted, "Predicting a person's leisure behavior on the basis of his socioeconomic position is all but impossible."
On the other hand, type of leisure activity is substantially influenced by the individual's immediate situation—whether he has a family, whether there are recreational facilities nearby, and age. Early family influences, particularly involving the more social leisure activities, can be profound. The type of leisure activity also depends on the individual's current place in the life cycle
.
Specific findings in sociological studies of leisure are illustrated by John Robinson's late-1970s study of American leisure. Robinson found that Americans, on average, have four hours of leisure time each weekday, and more on weekends—six hours on Saturdays, almost eight on Sundays. Amount of leisure time diminishes with age, work, marriage, and children. However, the amount of free time does not significantly depend on an individual's wealth. People desire less free time if they are uncertain of their economic future, or if their job is their central interest. During the second half of the twentieth century, watching television
became a major leisure activity, causing a substantial decrease in the time dedicated to other activities; in the early 1970s the average American had 4 hours of leisure per day, and spent 1.5 of them watching television. Shared leisure activities increase marital satisfaction.
Leisure
Leisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education....
. Leisure is difficult to define, and includes a broad array of activities, such as sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
, tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, and the playing of game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
s. The sociology of leisure is closely tied to the sociology of work, as each explores a different side of the work-leisure relationship. More recent studies in the field move away from the work-leisure relationship and focus on the relation between leisure and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
.
Studies of leisure have determined that observable patterns cannot be easily explained by socioeconomic variables such as income, occupation or education. The type of leisure activity is substantially influenced by the individual's immediate situation (presence or lack of family, age, and other factors).
Theory
Sociology of leisure is a fairly recent subfield of sociology, compared to more traditional subfields such as sociology of work, sociology of the familySociology of the family
The Sociology of the family examines the family, as an institution and a unit of socialisation, through various sociological perspectives, particularly with regard to the relationship between the nuclear family and industrial capitalism, and the distinct gender roles and concepts of childhood which...
, and sociology of education
Sociology of education
The sociology of education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes. It is most concerned with the public schooling systems of modern industrial societies, including the expansion of higher, further, adult, and continuing...
: it saw most of its development in the second half of the 20th century. Until then, leisure had often been seen as a relatively unimportant, minor feature of society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
. Leisure is now recognized as a major social institution, deserving of serious sociological inquiry, particularly in Western societies.
As John Wilson and others have noted, it is difficult to define leisure
Leisure
Leisure, or free time, is time spent away from business, work, and domestic chores. It is also the periods of time before or after necessary activities such as eating, sleeping and, where it is compulsory, education....
. Its definitions are numerous and often mutually contradictory, for example as a discrete portion of one's time or as a quality of experience irrespective of time. Joffre Dumazedier distinguished four distinct definitions of leisure, which begin broadly and gradually narrow in scope. The first and broadest defines leisure as a style of behavior that may occur even at work, the second defines it as any non-work activity; the third further excludes family and household obligations; and, finally, the narrowest defines leisure as activities dedicated to self-fulfillment. Dumazedier's four definitions are not exhaustive. Incompatible definitions and measures are seen as a major factor accounting for occasionally contradictory research findings.
There are some unresolved questions concerning the definition of work: in particular, whether unpaid endeavors, such as volunteering or studying, are work. Non-work time should not be equated with free time, as it comprises not only free time, dedicated to leisure, but also time dedicated to certain obligatory activities, such as housework. Dividing activities into free and dedicated time is not easy. For example, brushing one's teeth is neither work nor leisure; scholars differ in their classifications of activities such as eating a meal, shopping, repairing a car, attending a religious ceremony, or showering (various individuals may or may not classify such activities as leisure). The relation between work and leisure can also be unclear: research indicates that some individuals find skills that they have acquired at work useful to their hobbies (and vice versa), and some individuals have used leisure activities to advance their work careers. Sociologists also disagree as to whether political or spiritual activities should be included in studies of leisure. Further, among some occupational communities, such as police officers or miners, it is common for work colleagues to be off-time friends and to share similar, work-based leisure activities.
Apart from a definition of leisure, there are other questions of theoretical concern to the sociologist of leisure. For example, quantifying the results is difficult, as time-budget studies have noted that a given amount of time (for example, an hour) may have different values, depending on when it occurs—within a day, a week, or a year. Finally, as with many other fields of inquiry in the social sciences, the study of the sociology of leisure is hampered by the lack of reliable data for comparative longitudinal studies
Longitudinal study
A longitudinal study is a correlational research study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time — often many decades. It is a type of observational study. Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends across the...
, as there was little to no standardized data-gathering on leisure throughout most of human history. The lack of longitudinal studies has been remedied in the last few decades by recurring national surveys such as the General Household Survey
General Household Survey
The General Household Survey is a survey conducted on an annual basis by the Office for National Statistics and collects data about private households in Great Britain...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(ongoing since 1971). In addition to surveys, an increasing number of studies have been focusing on qualitative methods
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
of research (interviews
Interviews
Interviews is:# the plural form of "interview"# a compilation album by Bob Marley & the Wailers, see Interviews # a C++ toolkit for the X Window System, see InterViews...
).
Research
Over time, emphasis in studies of leisure has shifted from the work-leisure relation, particularly in well-researched majorities, to study of minorities and the relation between leisure and cultureCulture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. Marshall Gordon noted that there are two approaches in the study of leisure: formal and historical-theoretical. The formal approach focuses on empirical
Empirical
The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation or experimentation. Empirical data are data produced by an experiment or observation....
questions, such as the shifting of leisure patterns over an individual's life cycle
Life cycle
Life cycle or lifecycle may refer to: * Biological life cycle* Enterprise life cycle* Life cycle assessment* New product development* Product lifecycle , various meanings* Project life cycle...
, the relation between leisure and work, and specific forms of leisure (such as the sociology of sport
Sociology of sport
Sociology of sport, alternately referred to as sports sociology, is a sub-discipline of sociology which focuses on sports as social phenomena. It is an area of study concerned with various socio-cultural structures, patterns, and organizations or groups involved with sport.There are many...
). The historical-theoretical approach studies the relation between leisure and social change
Social change
Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...
, often from structural-functionalist and neo-Marxist perspectives. Sheila Scraton provided a different analysis, comparing North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n and British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
studies. The British approaches focus on input from pluralism
Pluralism (political theory)
Classical pluralism is the view that politics and decision making are located mostly in the framework of government, but that many non-governmental groups use their resources to exert influence. The central question for classical pluralism is how power and influence is distributed in a political...
, critical Marxism, and feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
; the American approaches concentrate on the social-psychological
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
tradition.
Findings
Many sociologists have assumed that a given type of leisure activity is most easily explained by socioeconomic variables such as incomeIncome
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
, occupation
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
or education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. This has yielded fewer results than expected; income is associated with total money spent on such activities, but otherwise only determines what type of activities are affordable. Occupation has a similar effect, because most occupations heavily influence a person's income (for example, membership in a prestigious occupation and "country-club
Country club
A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...
" activities such as golf or sailing are significantly correlated
Correlation
In statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
--but so is membership in those occupations and high income, and those activities with high cost). Education is correlated with having a wide range of leisure activities, and with higher dedication to them. As Kelly noted, "Predicting a person's leisure behavior on the basis of his socioeconomic position is all but impossible."
On the other hand, type of leisure activity is substantially influenced by the individual's immediate situation—whether he has a family, whether there are recreational facilities nearby, and age. Early family influences, particularly involving the more social leisure activities, can be profound. The type of leisure activity also depends on the individual's current place in the life cycle
Life cycle
Life cycle or lifecycle may refer to: * Biological life cycle* Enterprise life cycle* Life cycle assessment* New product development* Product lifecycle , various meanings* Project life cycle...
.
Specific findings in sociological studies of leisure are illustrated by John Robinson's late-1970s study of American leisure. Robinson found that Americans, on average, have four hours of leisure time each weekday, and more on weekends—six hours on Saturdays, almost eight on Sundays. Amount of leisure time diminishes with age, work, marriage, and children. However, the amount of free time does not significantly depend on an individual's wealth. People desire less free time if they are uncertain of their economic future, or if their job is their central interest. During the second half of the twentieth century, watching television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
became a major leisure activity, causing a substantial decrease in the time dedicated to other activities; in the early 1970s the average American had 4 hours of leisure per day, and spent 1.5 of them watching television. Shared leisure activities increase marital satisfaction.
See also
- Sociological investigations of leisure on the Internet
Further reading
- Bennet M. Bergero, "The Sociology of Leisure: Some Suggestions," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, vol. 1, issue 2, May 2008, pp. 31–45.
- Tony Blackshaw, Leisure Life: Myth, Masculinity and Modernity, Routledge, 2003, ISBN 0415270723.
- Neil H. Cheek, Jr., "Toward a Sociology of Not-Work," The Pacific Sociological Review, vol. 14, no. 3, July 1971, pp. 245–258. JSTOR
- C. Critcher, Peter Bramham, Alan Tomlinson, Sociology of Leisure: A Reader, Taylor & Francis, 1995, ISBN 0419194207.
- Joffre Dumazedier, Sociology of Leisure, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, 1974, ISBN 0444412263.
- Joffre Dumazedier, Towards a Sociology of Leisure, Macmillan, 1967.
- John R. Kelly, "Counterpoints in the Sociology of Leisure," Leisure Sciences, vol. 14, issue 3, 1992 , pp. 247–53. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a913133306&db=all
- John Robert Kelly, Geoffrey Godbey, The Sociology of Leisure, Venture Pub., 1992, ISBN 0910251568.
- Review of the above book: Margaret Carlisle Duncan, "The Sociology of Leisure," Journal of Leisure Research, vol. 25, no. 4, Fall 1993. Online
- Stanley R. Parker, Leisure and Work, Allen & Unwin, 1985.
- Gilles Pronovost, The Sociology of Leisure. Trend Report, Sage Publications, 1998.
- Rhona Rapoport and Robert N. Rapoport, "Four Themes in the Sociology of Leisure," The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 25, no. 2, June 1974, pp. 215–29. JSTOR
- Kenneth Roberts, Leisure in Contemporary Society, CABI, 2006, ISBN 184593069X.
- Chris Rojek, "Leisure and Tourism," in Craig J. Calhoun, Chris Rojek, Bryan S. TurnerBryan S. Turner (sociologist)Bryan S. Turner is a British and Australian sociologist . He was born in January 1945 to working class parents in Birmingham, England. Turner has led a remarkably nomadic life having held university appointments in England, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Holland, Singapore and the United States...
, eds., The Sage Handbook of Sociology, SAGE, 2005, ISBN 0761968210. - Chris Rojek, Decentring Leisure: Rethinking Leisure Theory, SAGE, 1995, ISBN 0803988133.