John Stapleford’s book, Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves, provides a thorough overview with a Christian perspective of economic and ethical analysis. He reviews the moral challenges of macro, micro, and international economic issues. Stapleford covers a variety of important public policy issues such as self-interest, economic efficiency, and private property rights. He begins the book by laying a foundation of ethical thought and an analytical framework. Stapleford provides a Biblical perspective on the practical issues facing our current society. For example, there are three billion people in the world who live on less than $2 a day (Stapleford, 2009). The wealthy Americans continue to get richer. The greed and lawlessness of America’s corporate boardrooms is increasing. Legalized gambling continues to increase every year. The expansion of pornography and its accessibility to America’s younger generations has become a rapidly growing epidemic (Stapleford, 2009). This text is grounded solidly in biblical principles. A number of the problems he discusses are not specifically addressed in the Bible, but one of the author's strengths is to develop a Christian rationale for contemporary issues, based on biblical principles. An example of this skill is found in his forceful chapter on "False Hope . . . The Boom in Legalized Gambling" (Stapleford, 2009). Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves provides useful information on many policy issues and is stimulating in encouraging reflection on an ethical framework to apply alongside economic analysis. Stapleford provides relevant statistics and applicable principles for each topic and incorporates some “history of economic thought,” especially the work of Adam Smith (Stapleford, 2009). ... ... middle of paper ... ...templates/story/story.php?storyId=124611210 Marks, L. (2006). The Loss of Leisure in a Culture of Overwork. Spirit of Change Magazine. Miller, G. (2010, October 12). Twenty Something Finance . Retrieved April 12, 2011, from The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World – When do we Draw the Line?: http://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/ Scanlon, J. (2010, May). Sloan Work and Family Research Network, Boston College. Retrieved 4 11, 2011, from Sloan Work and Family Research Network, Boston College: http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/topic_extended.php?id=12&type=8&area=All Schwartz, F. (2011, March). Catalyst. Retrieved April 12, 2011, from http://www.catalyst.org/publication/219/statistical-overview-of-women-in-the-workplace Stapleford, J. (2009). Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Many individuals would define leisure as time free from paid work, domestic responsibilities, and just about anything that one would not do as part of their daily routine. Time for leisure and time for work are both two separate spheres. The activities which people choose to do on their spare time benefit their own personal interests as well as their satisfactions. While some people may enjoy one activity, others pay not. Leisure is all about personal interests and what people constitute having a good time is all about. Some may say that the process of working class leisure can be seen to contribute their own subordination as well as the reproduction of capitalist class relations. Self-produced patterns of working class leisure can lead to resistance to such reproduction. This leads to social class relations and inequalities, and the fact that it they can never be completely reproduced in the leisure sphere. This film Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, gives some examples of the role of leisure within a capitalist society dealing with issues such as class inequalities, and how they are different among various societies.
Powell, Bill. "Meet The Parents." Newsweek Global 169, no. 7, September 2017, 16-23. MasterFILE Elite, EBSCOhost (accessed December 2, 2017). http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=62e2d339-8ec2-493a-adf2-5e2a20b75989%40sessionmgr101
“In the last twenty years the amount of time Americans have spent at their jobs has risen steadily. Each year the change is small, amounting to about nine hours, or slightly more than one additional day of work (Schor, 1). Juliet B. Schor’s The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure explores the decline of leisure time in American professionals and laborers as a result of an increase in working time. In comparison to our European counterparts, American workers are now working close to 320 more hours yearly. Schor highlights the fact that American workers are choosing to work multiple jobs contributing to less leisure time due to longer working hours. In conclusion the book depicts the idea that the materialistic nature of Americans results in them choosing to work more so that they can spend more.
The same article showed other factors that play into the overworked life of an average American, and one of them is the 67% increase in cost of living since 1990(Gilson). Or, the fact that one’s annual salary at minimum wage is merely $15,080. In addition to that, one must have a $30,000 income in order to say that they genuinely have econmic security. So, maybe this is the reason why Americans find themselves having to work longer hours and having to work harder. It is because our economy is relentless, and in order to make a living, things like vacation and days off have to sometimes be put on ho...
Hodson, Randy and Sullivan A. Teresa. (2008). The Social Organization of Work, Fourth Edition. Published: United States of America.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Department of sociology,2006. Qualitative and quantitative approaches. [online] Available at: [Accessed 24 November 2011].
In his book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, German philosopher Joseph Pieper provides a broader, deeper definition of leisure as the driving force behind our very existence. He points out that a common misconception regarding leisure is that it is the opposite of work. However, this cannot be true because, once our basic needs are met, is ultimately geared towards leisure. Therefore, it is in order to say that we work so that we can have leisure. As Aristotle put it in Politics, ‘leisure is the center-point about which everything revolves’. In today’s modern society, almost every human activity involves some sort of work. Pieper does not see work as just a form of occupation, but gives it an anthropological definition encompassing the whole concept of man. In his everyday life man works, and since work is about getting leisure, man’s very existence is to find leisure. His culture, way of life, is defined by leisure. BACKGROUND
The next chapter titled: “Hyphenated Culture: Painting by Numbers in the New Age of Leisure”, discusses at length America and its eternal battle with leisure. At the time man had an inherent ancient capitalist folkloric belief that the common worker with time on his hands was a threat to public order. If fact many housewives didn’t like or even want automatic dishwashers because the easy work made them feel lazy.
My own personal philosophy of leisure has been shaped by past and present activities I do for leisure and why I do them. To me, leisure is the sense of being free from external stressors that I face in my life such as school or work. The positive outcomes from partaking in leisure are generally overlooked and often underestimated. Leisure affects our emotions, our physical and mental health, and aids in the creation of relationships. In my own personal life, I have done and still participate in leisure as a way to sooth myself or unwind from the stress of school or work. The release of pent up emotions and energy for individuals helps their relationships with others and their overall health as well. When stress is released, an individual is
Stebbins, R. (2004). Between Work & Leisure: The Common Ground of Two Seperate Worlds. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction.
Sullivan, M. (2007, 7). Home / UCLA Newsroom. Working Families Rely Heavily on Retrieved February 6, 2014, from
Retrieved December 7, 2013. Gilovich, T., & Gilovich, T. (2013). Chapter 12 / Groups /. Social psychology in the United States. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
It seems that life seems to move at a fast pace. We live in a world where wealth is the key to survival and happiness. Throughout the years, I felt that I had little to no leisure activities, which means that I was unable to choose freely an activity that I enjoy the intrinsic rewards. However, keeping track of my daily routine prove me wrong. What is leisure? Leisure is the possibility for an individual to have the time and money to do whatever they want and enjoy it. It’s the ability to have freedom. In the following paragraph, I would highlight essential activities that I do, analyze my leisure pattern, what’s my true definition of leisure from our reading and why my leisure helps define me.
Arthur, John, and Scalet, Steven, eds. Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Eighth Edition, 2009.
White, Cyde. R. (1955). American Journal of Sociology. Social class differences in the uses of Leisure, Vol. 61, No.2, pages 145-150