Sociology of Leisure

Recreation professionals continually strive to serve a host of diverse program con-stituents, while leisure researchers attempt to uncover barriers to leisure participation. Much of the barriers or constraints research has come from the perspective of program participants. This study identified, from the perspectives and experiences of 18 recre-ation professionals, the issues and barriers that they perceive inhibit recreation program access and availability to diverse constituents, particularly ethnic minority populations. Co-cultural theory, which integrates the concepts of muted group theory and standpoint theory, was utilized as the study’s theoretical framework. In-depth interviews were uti-lized. Five primary barriers were identified that related to the changing faces of the community, the changing faces of management and staff, deferred program responsibil-ity, language barriers, and negative attitudes and stereotypes held by some management and staff. This article demonstrate...

Teorijski pristupi slobodnom vremenu  predstavlja plodo¬nosan teorijsko – analitički pristup temi koja se odnosi na utvrđivanje načina razu¬mi¬jevanja i objašnjenja u socio¬loškoj nauci, kao i uopšte u društvenoj teoriji, bitnih ka¬ra¬kteristika slobodnog vremena u domenu svakodnevnog života. Naime, ovdje se radi, prije svega, o teorijsko meto¬do¬loškom uvidu u različita teorijska stano¬višta o slobodnom vremenu na ex-jugoslovenskom pro¬storu, a što na određeni način pred¬sta¬vlja metateorijsko sagle¬da¬va¬nje ov¬¬¬og složenog fenomena ljudske egzistencije.

Complete conference proceedings for the II Brazilian Congress of Leisure Studies that took place September 2016 in the city of Belém, Brazil.
Anais completos do II Congresso Brasileiro de Estudos do Lazer, realizado em setembro de 2016 na cidade de Belém-PA.

This thesis (1) explores the racialised aspects of media representations of athletic bodies in purposefully selected British men’s magazines; and (2) considers how these images influence white men’s perceptions of their own racialised and gendered identities and those of Others. The rationale for a study of this nature emerged from a reading of much recent literature which has suggested that black male athletic bodies, in particular, have become ever more ordinary features of contemporary sport and leisure media. Liberal commentaries have argued that many subjugated racialised social groups have utilised sporting and leisure stages in order to challenge the fallacies of psychological and biological inferiority
propagated historically by patriarchal and bio-racist discourses. Thus, while Black women remain underrepresented in media spaces, images of their male counterparts, particularly
those of African-Caribbean heritage, have accessed the realm of the popular en masse and have acquired almost superhuman status in late modern times. However, while some uncritical commentaries equate visibility with social progress and improvement, this thesis explores the nature of media representations of Black male bodies more critically and also
illuminates the racialised aspects and privileges of the often invisible sporting body, the white male athlete.

In order to do this Critical Race Theory (CRT) and elements of poststructuralist theory, were employed together as a theoretical framework that guided: (a) a semiotic analysis of the racialised aspects of male athletic bodies in British men’s magazines (Men’s Health, Sport and Jump); (b) observations of white men in gyms and while doing parkour; and (c) semi-structured interviews with physically active white men and the racialised and gendered
aspects of their readings of media images of male bodies. Adopting a CRT approach to media analysis centres ‘race’, racism and whiteness while addressing the colour-blindness of previous studies of men’s magazines. The study highlights the importance of studying white male athletic bodies and masculinities while implicating them in perpetuating racialised processes in sport and leisure arenas. That is, this study argues that media representations of athletic bodies and masculinities contribute to a white male supremacist discourse and therefore must not be read in isolation from processes of racialisation.

The thesis contends that, paradoxically, it is imperative to centralise white masculinities and make visible their privileges, assumptions and predilections, in order to distort and highlight white male supremacy. This is particularly important considering the frequency with which these discourses are made invisible by liberal academic and media institutions.

Boş zaman ve/veya rekreasyon alanında bilimsel çalışmalar yürüten araştırmacılar, genellikle önce boş zaman ve/veya rekreasyon konusuna odaklanmakta, sosyolojik arka planı ise ikinci aşamada anlamaya çalışmaktadır. Sosyolojik derinliğe dalmaya engel olabilecek bu durumu engellemenin en temel yollarından biri, araştırma konusunun sosyolojik teorilerin penceresinden incelenmesidir. Bu çalışma, boş zamana ilişkin sosyolojik yaklaşımların temelde neler olduğunu özetlemeyi ve özellikle boş zaman, rekreasyon ve sosyoloji ilişkileri üzerine çalışan turizm araştırmacıları için bir anlayış geliştirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Boş zamana ilişkin anlayışın geliştirilmesi için kullanılan en yaygın bakış açıları; işlevselci, yapısal eleştirel ve post yapısal/postmodernist yaklaşımlardır. İşlevselci yaklaşımlar, insanların bireysel olarak toplumsal sistem içerisindeki rollerine odaklanır ve boş zamanın hem bireysel hem de toplumsal düzeydeki önemine vurgu yapar. Yapısal eleştirel yaklaşımlar, boş zaman etkinliklerine güç ilişkileri temelinden bakar ve boş zaman olanaklarına erişim eşitsizliklerini gündeme taşır. Son olarak postyapısal/postmodernist yaklaşımlar ise boş zamanın esnekliğine, merkezsizleştirildiğine, kimliğin bir yorumu veya bireylerin kendilerini gerçekleştirmelerinin bir yolu olduğu gibi mikro düşüncelere önem verir.

The sociological study of religion stretches back to the discipline’s foundation in the work of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim (Borowik 2011). Durkheim’s (1915) broad conception of collective consciousness and the increasing number of those who do not identify with organized religion in America (Pew Research Center 2008) suggest a re-conceptualization of religion beyond formal, institutional definitions. In expanding definitions of religion, leading sociologists of religion have called for increased consideration of the role of quasi-religious phenomena in order to better understand social meaning and group behavior (Ammerman 2007; Luckmann 1967; McGuire 2008). The lack of attention to quasi-religions is particularly problematic given religion’s proposed importance for sociology, as “religion is inscribed into the entirety of the reflection on the essence of society” (Borowik 2011:177). Understanding religion, as a crystallization of that which a group finds deeply meaningful in all of its forms, including quasi-religions, is fundamental for understanding social life.
To advance our understanding of contemporary quasi-religious phenomena, the current study explores the role of the sacred, ritual, belief, and group meaning among fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a U.S. team within the National Football League (NFL). Participant observation data are used to assess the types of sacred symbols, rituals, beliefs, and overall group meaning implicated in the fan identity. Rituals and their emotional outcomes, necessary components of a quasi-religion, are framed using the microsociological approach of Interaction Ritual (IR) theory (Collins 2004; see also Cottingham 2012).  I also examine the beliefs, emotions, and meanings that Steelers fans hold in an effort to better understand sports fandom as an increasingly popular facet of society. Doing so, this study advances our understanding of religion outside of narrow, “official” definitions and illuminates the contours of a specific fan base.

This essay, or rather collection of essays, draws together three distinct streams of thought, time and space into a single river of understanding concerning labor, leisure, human-nature relations, city and town planning and human evolution at both the individual and collective levels. From Daoist tales of effortless leisure under 'useless trees' to Pieper's eulogy of leisure in the Modernist world(view) of total work and onto the planning theory and practice of Sir. Patrick Geddes, this ambling and nomadic stream seeks to problematize hegemonic contemporary conceptions of evolution, order, labor, leisure, nature and human-nature relations and to plant the seeds of a new principle, a new mythos, to which human evolution and being can be oriented in ashes of the charred edifice of Modernity. Can we transcend the materially rationalist, labor centric conceptions of humanity that reign in contemporary hegemonic culture for a more holistic perspective in which the infinite and finite aspects of human being can co-exist without either one interfering with the other? Can human-nature relations, especially as cultivated through city and town planning, transcend the present order of hierarchical domination, objectification and callous consumption of nature for an order of relations in which nature acts upon us as a teacher and we consume nature in harmony with its own natural order rather than through creation of an artificial order?

Estudio que describe las maneras en que 30 entrevistados realizan actividades de ocio digital. Se analizaron aspectos relacionados con las dinámicas de uso y alcances de la experiencia de ocio y se aportan evidencias de que las actividades de ocio digitales se fusionan y desarrollan en simultaneidad y con los significados de los contextos los informantes separan o diferencian las actividades. Se comenta sobre las implicaciones del ocio digital en la dimensión social de los informantes en dos aspectos: los aportes del ocio digital para el desarrollo de habilidades y conocimientos y como una vía de socialización e interacción.

How does the massively-multiplayer online gameworld (MMOG) of World of Warcraft (WoW) refute or reflect the capitalist leanings of the neoliberal culture in which it is situated? How does this understanding of gaming as suspect leisure feed out into the everyday understood associations between gaming, leisure, labour, and being in a neoliberal context? Using these questions as a foundation for investigation, this thesis analyzes connections between gameworld participation as an activity, the WoW gameworld as a lived environment, and that activity and gameworld‘s relation to leisure, labour and being, and demonstrates how these understandings commit at least one of four ontological errors. By situating gameworld participation as a set of hybrid work-leisure practices that re-inscribes neoliberalism, this thesis will describe how MMOG participation is an activity that is a full corroboration of the work, consumption and action orientations of western neoliberal capitalism.

Late modernity is characterized by the processes of individualization which open unprecedented opportunities for personal choices and construction of one’s own life, but are accompanied by increasing instability and uncertainty. Young people living in big cities find themselves in these structural conditions and need to cope with the unpredictability of the future while striving to form their life trajectory and find their place in the society. Biographical project as a reflexive future-anticipating vision of oneself, one’s activities and one’s biography becomes a means to make sense, orient and gain control over one’s life in the changing and unstable world. Serious leisure is a particular activity distinguished by regular and systematic involvement, complex skills and significant effort, therefore it plays a particular role in biographical project. I explore the contribution of serious leisure into the biographical project, using their models developed on the basis of the theory of serious leisure (Stebbins) and reflexive project of the self (Giddens) and empirical material from 27 semi-structured interviews with young people in Saint Petersburg and Berlin. I analyze main features of serious leisure (investments, costs, benefits) and offer a typology of the patterns of involvement as well as planning strategies. I demonstrate that planning strategies originating in serious leisure shape the whole biographical project and influence its formation. Tracing the focus of the biographical project through it features (reflexivity, projection, planning), I distinguish three types of serious leisure positions: central, parity and secondary. Based on the analysis of benefits and costs of serious leisure related to the components of biographical project (self, activities, life trajectory), I differentiate different ways of how serious leisure contributes to the biographical project (functions). As a result, I draw a comprehensive picture of serious leisure contribution to the biographical project.

The central aim of this paper is to understand the synergies between the phenomena ‘time’ and ‘leisure’, seeking an explanation for the contemporary need for an ‘education for leisure’. Therefore, a theoretical research is presented in three parts. The first brings the conceptual transformations of the phenomena ‘time’ and ‘leisure’, especially in the last century, and the main relationships that underlie these changes. The second part emphasizes the relations of the phenomena ‘free time’ and ‘leisure’ in a more contemporary context. The third and final section seeks to understand the current need for an ‘education for leisure’, built on the ideas presented in the first two parts of the paper. This discussion contributes to the conceptual construction of ‘education for leisure’, which implies possible changes both in theory and in practice.

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the changing meanings, representations and uses of leisure within the framework of social transformation, and put forth the main issues and contemporary approaches in sociology of leisure through relations of production, consumption patterns and other components of everyday life. This article aims to question the extent to which leisure is considered to be a time period freed from all formal and corporate attachments including school and work. By employing literature review, this article rst seeks to evaluate the changing meaning of leisure throughout different historical periods. The article then discusses the uses of leisure in everyday life with regard to its different types, both serious and casual, including cultural, sportive and touristic leisure activities. Lastly, in light of the examples from Turkey and around the world, contemporary academic perspectives on leisure studies will be covered. The main ndings of the article state that leisure has been reduced to a series of activities, surrounded by ideas and practices far from contemplation and value creation, fading before reaching the stage of permanence in our contemporary era of an endless present time.

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Adolescence and adolescent lifestyles. The young people's leisure and lifestyles project. Young people and leisure. Young people and sport. School and work. Young people and families Young people, peers and friends. Young people and health. Developing lifestyles in adolescence. Some concluding thoughts. Appendix: Panel Study Areas - types of environment. Bibliography. Name Index. Subject Index.

The disputes surrounding environmental issues indicate that it configures itself as a field of power and struggle within which interests are played related to the environmental event. In this sense, the aim of this article is to highlight conflicts associated with the processes of environmentalization of leisure practices. To this end, the discussion will be developed in three parts, in which: (a) the debate on the environmentalization of social reality will be presented; (b) the conflicts associated with the environmentalization of leisure practices will be analyzed; (c) the final considerations will be presented, highlighting the diversity of 'problems' associated with the theme, some particular to the leisure field, some to the environmental field, and others that arise at the interface between the two; researches that can contribute to the analysis of the processes of environmentalization of leisure practices will also be indicated.

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Adolescence and adolescent lifestyles. The young people's leisure and lifestyles project. Young people and leisure. Young people and sport. School and work. Young people and families Young people, peers and friends. Young people and health. Developing lifestyles in adolescence. Some concluding thoughts. Appendix: Panel Study Areas - types of environment. Bibliography. Name Index. Subject Index.

Cultural globalization may be a way to foster the values or volunteering as a leisure experience. Volunteerism may offer one way to bring people together to address the problems of local communities as well as the global village. Defining volunteering is complicated because it is a cultural activity that is conditioned by multiple factors including ethnic traditions, religious beliefs, and legal regulations. In countries around the world, however, people in governmental as well as not for profit organizations are realizing the economic and social benefits of volunteering. An implication of globalization may be opportunities to share information about volunteering and how volunteers use their energy to supplement human capital as well as social services. Three related but distinct dimensions are discussed regarding volunteerism and how it relates to leisure and recreation including individual, organizational, and community aspects. In a globalized world where it is easy to become disillusioned with feelings of powerlessness, volunteerism might be a leisure activity that offers ways to express individual interests as well as to foster community and global commitments.

English version of  "Il calcio in Italia tra conflitti e aiuti di stato". The essay sociologically analyzes the events of a particularly complex summer, in political and economic terms, for Italian football, and captures the relationship with the overall Italian crisis.

Relatively little evidence is available about how leisure involvement changes with spousal loss, and even less about how leisure activity is associated with the well-being of widows during this transition. Using data from the Americans Changing Lives (ACL) dataset, this study compared 148 widows with an equal number of continuously married women to investigate change in leisure involvement during the transition to widowhood and examine the relationship between leisure and depressive symptoms among the older women. Findings indicated that widows benefited from increased involvement in some activities while this was not necessarily the case for married women. This suggests that change in widows’ leisure involvement may be related more to bereavement than to other aging-related changes such as health and disability.

Понятие философского досуга было предложено Аннетт Холба в ответ на коммуникативные проблемы современного общества. Современному миру свойственны культура нарциссизма и потеря интереса к «другому», экзистенциальная бездомность и утрата доверия. Это ведет к распространению поверхностной коммуникации, обесценивающей общение между людьми, угрожающей существованию общества и жизнедеятельности человека. Философский досуг основывается на активном делании, созерцательном действии, игре и является альтернативным способом коммуникативного вовлечения в мир, средством  преодоления коммуникативных нарушений и возврата к подлинному общению.  Статья стремится осмыслить досуг по отношению к коммуникативному взаимодействию между людьми и показать его значение для формирования, поддержания и развития значимых социальных связей.

Amid the contemporary environmental crisis, underpinned by a social structure that values, above all, production and consumption, different possibilities of cooperation emerge between distinct areas of knowledge in search of strategies for dealing with environmental problems. In this sense, education plays a fundamental role, becoming a major force of social structure. Another social phenomenon that has gained strength in recent decades is leisure. Furthermore, education and leisure are fields that have relations that extend in different contexts, and, both in school and in non-school contexts, ‘education through leisure’ has appeared increasingly in teaching and learning processes. In this paper we present, in three parts, the results of a theoretical research: the first part aims to identify, through the analysis of the conceptual history of environmental education, the critical proposals that are on the agenda today; in the second part we present some of the essential elements for understanding the definition of ‘leisure’; in the third part, already in our final remarks, we seek an understanding of leisure that could really contribute with critical environmental education proposals, proposing a path towards a possible ‘environmental education through leisure’.

... Natan Uriely Ben-Gurion University of the Negev ... Central Park in New York City) and the conversion of existing gentry and royal gardens into public parks (for example Regents Park in London), thus enabling the public to use them in the context of leisure (Connell, 2003; Goode ...

Roland Barthes was a twentieth-century French literary critic, philosopher, and cultural theorist important in the trajectories of structuralism and poststructuralism. This article begins by examining Barthes' formative years and influences, and highlights his contributions made to structuralism and poststructuralism in France and beyond. The article then discusses the role that Barthes' work has played in the social and behavioral sciences, including how his writings have been appropriated by disciplines such as sociology and anthropology. Barthes' writings on history are also examined in a disciplinary context.

The objective of this study was to investigate consumer behaviour issues in a summer children's camp setting. Specifically, the study aimed to: (a) identify the personal incentives that drive children to participate in summer camps, (b) test gender and age differences in children's personal incentives, and (c) investigate which of the incentives are the most important ones in predicting children's

The purpose of this paper is to consider adaptive processes in relation to the constraints that limit leisure in late life. Interview data gathered from a purposive sample of 20 male and female retirees involved in a “Learning in Retirement” program were used to identify constraints, responses to constraints, and the personal meanings of both. Results indicated a variety of emotional and behavioral responses to constraints suggesting five prominent behavioral themes and three emotional themes. Behavioral responses were grouped into: (1) reducing and eliminating; (2) persistence with commitment; (3) constraint as "project"; (4) substitution; and (5) exploration and self-discovery. Emotional reactions ranged from the initial frustration to acceptance and even gratitude for the possibilities that remain. Findings are discussed in terms of the models of constraint negotiation and selective optimization reported in the literature; but they also indicate that constraints may lead to responses that are not only personally beneficial but are also novel and transformative to some extent.

Roland Barthes was a twentieth-century French literary critic, philosopher, and cultural theorist important in the trajectories of structuralism and poststructuralism. This article begins by examining Barthes' formative years and influences, and highlights his contributions made to structuralism and poststructuralism in France and beyond. The article then discusses the role that Barthes' work has played in the social and behavioral sciences, including how his writings have been appropriated by disciplines such as sociology and anthropology. Barthes' writings on history are also examined in a disciplinary context.

... But while I was in Ecuador, I thought that I didn't have these opportunities; that I didn't have aptitudes; I was very shy and quiet. Yes, in Ecuador I was very submissive. ... Before, in my country, we [me and my friends] were always organizing parties and trips. ...

... Natan Uriely Ben-Gurion University of the Negev ... Central Park in New York City) and the conversion of existing gentry and royal gardens into public parks (for example Regents Park in London), thus enabling the public to use them in the context of leisure (Connell, 2003; Goode ...

This paper suggests that raves (music and dance parties) have political and social meaning for participants that belie its hedonistic image. The first part of the paper looks at popular music writing. The second section critiques masculine rock music narratives. In the third section, ...