Leisure

1
chapter 4

• Leisure
• and Recreation
• for Individuals
• in Society

Daniel G. Yoder
2
Introduction

• This chapter considers the leisure of the
  individual in society
• Families
• Clans and tribes
• Neighborhoods and communities
• Villages, towns, and cities
• Gangs and clubs
• Unions, associations, and congregations
• Human existence and development cannot occur
  without support from and interaction with others.

3
Leisure As a Complex Social Phenomenon

• Leisure is affected by many social institutions
• Economics
• Politics
• Work
• Technology
• War

4
Solitary Leisure and Society

• A few activities are entirely solitary, some are
  purely social, and most can be either private or
  communal.
• Consider the following
• Solitary leisure does not take place in a social
  vacuum.
• Individuals and groups profoundly affect our
  solitary leisure activities.
• Leisure activities while we are alone influence
  the people and the world around us.

5
The World Around Us

• Consider how the world around us affects our
  private leisure in three ways
• By supporting it
• By infringing upon it
• By forcing us into it

6
Questions to PonderSolitary Leisure and Its
Affect on Others

• How does one persons leisure directly and
  indirectly affect those around him?
• Can solitary leisure have a positive influence on
  others?
• Can solitary leisure have serious negative
  consequences, not just to the person but to those
  around her?
• Can even a single act of solitary leisure have
  both negative and positive influences?

7
Implications for Leisure Professionals

• Recognize the benefits and costs of solitary
  leisure pursuits to individuals, those around
  them, and society in general.
• Most solo leisure activities require, at the
  least, space, some equipment and materials, and
  unencumbered time, but not a great many
  resources.
• Recognize and educate the public about the
  essential balance that must exist between
  solitary leisure and leisure that directly
  involves others.

8
Primary Groups Defined

• These are small groups in which there are
  face-to-face relations of a fairly intimate and
  personal nature.
• Two basic types are families and cliques. In
  other words, they are organized around ties of
  either kinship or friendship (Lenski, Nolan,
  Lenski, 1995).

9
Leisure and Primary Groups

• Most leisure is undertaken with others.
• Other people involved in the leisure activity are
  not merely bystanders they are essential
  components of the activity.
• In general, people are more important in leisure
  than the form of the activity (Kelly, 1987).
• Social custom and societal expectations
  profoundly affect leisure when it is undertaken
  in the family and with close friends.

10
Life Span and Family Cycle and the Typical
Leisure Activity

• Some leisure activities are common and some less
  common at different stages of life.
• A core of activities persist through a persons
  life, especially their adult years (Kelly, 1999).
  
• General types of leisure also tend to be common
  for many members of the same age group.
• Variation, or balance, exists among and between
  the age groups.

11
Leisure Activity and the Family

• Different cultures have various forms of kinship
  groupings.
• The same culture may change its notion of
  family over time.
• Families move through a series of predictable
  stages.
• The stages are not separate and distinct with
  sharp dividing lines rather, each stage tends to
  merge into the stage before and after it.

12
Leisure and Secondary Groups

• Henslin (1993) defines a secondary group as a
  larger, relatively temporary, more anonymous,
  formal and impersonal group based on some
  interest or activity, whose members are likely to
  interact on the basis of specific roles.
• The influence an individual has on secondary
  groups, while not obvious, is very real.

13
Leisure, Recreation, and Gender

• Gender is a social category that includes
  attitudes, expectation, and expressions of
  masculinity and femininity. Sex refers to the
  biological component of being either male or
  female.
• Gender is one of the most defining
  characteristics human beings possess. Because of
  that, it is linked to leisure in many complex
  relationships.

14
Historical Gender Examples

• Males have enjoyed a privileged position in all
  Western cultures.
• Recreation activities for women have taken place
  in the home and have had a domestic component
  such as cooking, decorating, and providing
  activity for children.
• Women are still responsible for the major duties
  in maintaining home and family. On average, women
  spend 50 hours each week on family work, while
  men average 11 hours. This limits the time
  available for leisure (Newman, 1999).

15
Russells 5 Conclusions

• Disparity has decreased over the past century,
  but men continue to experience more leisure in
  terms of breadth and depth.
• Long-entrenched roles for each gender
  significantly affect recreation.
• Mens recreation more often takes place beyond
  the confines of the home. Women more often
  participate in leisure in the home.
• (continued)

16
Russells 5 Conclusions (continued)

• 4. Womens leisure and recreation is fragmented
  because of the burden of family care. Men can
  block out an entire afternoon or even a few days
  exclusively for leisure.
• 5. Older women especially may labor under the
  false belief that leisure must be earned or that
  they are not entitled to it at all.

17
Leisure, Ethnicity, and Race

• Race refers to biological characteristics.
• Ethnicity refers to cultural characteristics.
  Henslin (1993) notes that people of the same
  ethnicity identify with one another on the basis
  of common ancestry and cultural heritage.
• Leisure participation rates vary according to
  race and ethnicity.

18
Leisure, Recreation, and Religion

• Religion has always been the anchor of identity
  for human beings. Religious beliefs give meaning
  to life, and the experiences associated with them
  provide personal gratification, as well as
  release from the frustrations and anxieties of
  daily life (Eschleman, Cashion, Basirico,
  1993).
• Relationship among leisure, recreation, and
  religion in the United States is long and
  complex.
• (continued)

19
Leisure, Recreation, and Religion (continued)

• The leisure of most citizens was dominated by
  religion when America was just beginning.
• Churches have recently used recreation as a tool
  to foster a sense of community, attract members,
  and keep members from activity that is harmful.

20
Leisure, Recreation, and Socioeconomic Class

• Individuals of nearly all societies are
  categorized according to some combination of
  wealth, power, party affiliation, life chances,
  and prestige.
• Some systems, like the caste system in India, are
  very rigid. The boundaries are distinct and
  movement between the different categories is
  nearly impossible.
• A class system is much more fluid with overlap
  between classes and the possibility of movement
  up and down among the classes.

21
Newmans Class System for the United States

1. The upper class is made up of owners of vast
   property and wealth. Some estimate that one half
   percent of the upper class owns more than 25 of
   the countrys wealth (Henslin, 1993).
2. The middle class is made up of managers,
   small-business owners, and professionals.
3. The working class is made up predominantly of
   laborers who make modest wages and own little
   property.
4. Lower or poor class members are those who either
   work for minimum wages, are often unemployed, or
   who are unemployable.

22
Class Affects Sports Participation

• Recent research on sports and social equality in
  the United States demonstrates a general pattern
  of under-representation of people from the lowest
  income levels among active participants in
  organized sports and physical recreation.
• (Gruneau, 1999)
• Economic stratification is at least a filter,
  with low incomes simply eliminating the majority
  of the population from cost-intensive activity.
• (Kelly, 1996)

23
Good and Bad Leisure and Recreation

• These are difficult to determine because of
  differences in individual values and
  interpretations. (There are several different and
  competing theories about what is good and bad
  and right and wrong.)
• The individual and the various societies of which
  he or she is a part jointly determine goodness in
  all things, including leisure and recreation.

24
Implications for Professionals

• One must continue to drive home the point that
  leisure and recreation are essential So
  important, in fact, that humans, regardless of
  their lot in life, have them by right, not
  because they are of a particular correct color,
  age, ethnicity, gender, religion, or class.