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
Pieper wrote Leisure when Germany was undergoing a cultural crisis that eventually led to a second world war. His views were shaped by the prevailing cultural crisis and similar works by other well known German philosophers like Martin Heidegger. Peiper wanted people to think differently regarding all that was happening around them.His proposals were not meant as advice or a call to action. In the words of Pieper himself, “Well, the considerations put forward in this essay were not designed to give advice and draw up a line of action; they were meant to make men think. Their aim has been to throw a little light on a problem which seems to me very important and very urgent, and is all too easily lost to sight among the immediate tasks in hand.”
PIEPER’S THEORY OF LEISURE
All throughout modern history, the ...
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...humane view of work featured by negative aspects such as laziness and boredom. Thus, Pieper distinguishes as well as draws a similarity between the aspects of leisure and culture, and that the only way to truly participate in both is to engage in the true celebration and worship of the great almighty.
CONCLUDING ARGUMENTS
Thus according to Pieper, leisure is an attitude of the mind and a state of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. Pieper establishes that the ancient and medieval philosophers understood the great value and importance of leisure in doing work and thus, eventually led to building of great societies. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure as it is only through leisure that actual worship of God is possible. Leisure has been, and always will be, the basic foundation of any culture or religion.
If was given the opportunity to be hired as a TR specialist the most suitable work sight that is the best fit for me would be a Long Term Care centre. With clients that are of the age of retirement are not able to take of themselves or suffered a major disability that warrants them to be under the care of a health care professional, the most logical way for TR specialist to provide effective therapy in the field of TR is through the uses of the Leisure Ability Model. This model is based on the concept of internal locus of control, in intrinsic motivation, personal causality, freedom of choice and flow through the use of three service components: treatment, leisure education and recreation participation. When using this model it is imperative
“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.
Old Leisure is quite contrasting to New Leisure. Being a stout country squire of the 18th century, he is laid back, simple minded, well fed, and financially well off. He reads but one newspaper and favors Sunday services that "allow him to sleep." "He never went to Exeter Hall, or heard a popular preacher, or read Tracts for the Times or Sartor Resartus." He is not bothered by his "inability to know the causes of things" and sleeps "the sleep of the irresponsible." Eliot describes Old Leisure more than New Leisure because today's readers are familiar enough with living a life as hurried and fast paced as New Leisure's. Her description of Old Leisure is nostalgic of a slower paced way of life.
The argument that the “Tumult of the Metropolis” creates inner barriers between people is justified by Simmel’s social theory study of sociability (paraphrased in Frisby 1989, p.75-77). His reflective view explores the importance of sociability and its ability to transcend ones inner barriers and concerns on modern leisure within a “growing objective culture” (Frisby 1989, p.76). Simmel further suggests that the concerns raised upon the modernised culture derived from two main ideologies of objectification and reification which was dominated by production, exchange and consumption. The domination of these aspects reflects the process of commodification as what was seen as valuable had been reduced to exchangeable prices, therefore meaning that subjectivity and individuality was destroyed.
In this chart (3), we can see that "the change of time spending on the
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.
...lenging to maintain balance between what you love to do and work. For instance high-powered executives can forget what it is like to have time to enjoy themselves with their family and friends, and as a result they can become depressed or their vision of life becomes so limited that all that exists in their world is work. An overworked executive may never have done laboring for money, but may have labored through difficult projects. Humanity could be different if people could choose to work at what they love and have passion for. it. They could have balance in their lives; they could grow with their family and enjoy life. Ultimately, all of us need to work; some of us do laboring jobs, and at times many of us will labor through a difficult projects. In my opinion labor is a heavy heavier or burning feeling and work can be busy but incredible productive and enjoyable.
Stevenson, L. and Haberman D. Ten Theories of Human Nature, Oxford University Press 2009 Pieper J. Leisure The Basis of Culture, Ignatius Press 2009
Henry David Thoreau argues that when people are thinking too much and focus on details, “our life is frittered away by detail.” (p.276) People keep working in the bustling world, and forget the beauty of nature and our world. Thoreau also says “As for work, we haven’t any of any consequence”(p.277), what he means is that people are working meaninglessly, they are
Written in 1899, by Thorstein Veblen, “The Theory of the Leisure Class”, analyzes and critiques consumerism in the United States. Veblen explores the lifestyle and ways of thinking of the exploiter versus the exploited; in a point of view from those who are born into power and those who serve people in power. It is in this book where Veblen created the phrase “conspicuous consumption”, where it means buying goods in order to display a higher social class than others (Heath, 2001). He traces almost all practices and tastes of the leisure class directly to the pecuniary interest. I chose this book because I wanted to learn about how certain groups in society try to distinguish themselves from other groups and how it came to be for such differential.
A leisure education program like Benefits-Based Programming (BBP) is a program that can facilitate leisure. “BBP curtails involvement in negative activities by teaching people about leisure time and how to use it productively with the end goal of acquiring attitudes and skills to help manage daily life stresses while becoming a productive member of society (Carter, 2005)”. Another program that can facilitate leisure in prisons is recreational counseling. “The recreational counseling model believe that recreation and leisure interests are frequently a stable base on which to build career goals, sometimes these inmates never realize that their talents in certain areas could quite possible offer future employment prospects (Caplin,1996)”. Correctional recreation is another way to facilitate leisure activities that will maximize wellness benefits.
The Leisure and Recreation Industry The leisure and recreation industry is an industry, which has grown and affected the economy in a big way. The industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK. The leisure and recreation is defined in many ways for example leisure is referred to the time spent outside employment and other essential activities such as sleeping. Recreation, where as referred to the type of activities undertaken during leisure time? The leisure and recreation industry can be described as a whole range of activities taken in people's free time.
Concepts from social psychology are helpful in understanding the relationship of recreation and leisure to holistic health. Biopsychosocial health is a state characterised by the combination of biological wellness, and ‘integrative well-being’ which includes both social and spiritual health (Heintzman & Patriquin, 2012, pp. 160-161). One approach to examining social psychological phenomenon is ‘psychological social psychology’ , (PSP), (Stryker, 1977, as cited in Kleiber, Walker & Mannell, 2011, p. 12). This approach looks at both the interactions between individual internal states, (i.e. emotion, perception, attitude, desire, and personality), as well as situational, social, and environmental influences (Kleiber et al., 2011, p. 12). PSP examines environments and human interactions and relationships and their effects on the individual (Iso-Ahola, 1980, p. 23) and vice-versa (Kleiber et al., 2011, p. 12). Therapeutic leisure professionals may apply social psychology concepts in the study of recreation and leisure behaviour and how individuals influence and are affected by different types of leisure activities and
A leisure activity is any activity chosen for pleasure, relaxation, or other emotional satisfaction, typically something one would participate in during free time. The leisure activity I have chosen to partake in is knitting. My great-grandmother was an excellent knitter and would make my whole family scarves and dishcloths when she was alive. She would give them out as Christmas presents, so I want to carry on her tradition. Knitting is a relaxing and simple task, so it is a great way for me to occupy my spare time and escape the stresses of work and school.
Leisure time, each person thinks of something different when they hear this. While reading an essay by Gregory A. Miller about "The Many Benefits of Hiking” I got to thinking what my favorite features and benefits of hiking are. My favorite thing to do in my leisure time is hiking because it calms my mind, it 's great for the body, and I enjoy doing all I can for our earth along the way.