Our Future Environment

In a world where an increasing number of people are able to spend money and time on things other than basic needs, the importance of understanding leisure- what people want to do voluntarily and outside of obligation- is increasingly important. How the world’s future inhabitants will spend their money, their time, and their energy is an increasingly concerning topic as technology, globalization, and climate change shifts daily life.
In 1899, Thorstein Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class.

This volume departed from standard thought that leisure is the ultimate condition to be sought. Although Veblen’s work was flawed he argued that leisure, like other areas of individual and social life, could and should be subjected to theoretical and empirical analysis. Leisure could no longer be venerated as the ultimate goal of human activity. For almost half a century after Veblen’s work, leisure was still regarded as a moral and philosophical condition rather than a subject of scientific inquiry. But two works began to push leisure studies away from the previous conception, first by Lundberg, Komarovsky & McInerny (1934) in Leisure: A Suburban Study. This article was the first to examine leisure as an aspect of the social organization of the community.
The second work published in 1962 by the U.S. Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission explained, in 28 volumes, recreation behavior by reference to various sociodemographic data. It was the first to do so.
Between 1984 and 1994 some leisure studies topics declined while other topics such as ethnicity and leisure, and serious leisure emerged. Critical theory has began to emerge in gender-based frameworks and feminist theory. Some topics have been reconceptualized, for example: barriers have become constraints and benefits has become benefits approach to leisure. Qualitative methods has also gained equal standing with quantitative.

Jackson, E.L. & Burton, T.L. (Eds.) (1999). Foreword, Preface and Introduction in Leisure Studies: Prospects for the 21st Century. State College, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc.

Filed under: leisure on June 25th, 2008