Cultural Concepts of Leisure
Modern American culture seems to have the need for discrepancy between leisure and work more than any other culture in the world. We really forget the possibility that other meanings besides our own might exist. I would like to explore the different meanings that leisure has for people of other cultural backgrounds and compare them with those of European descent. It is important to keep in mind that there is no way of regarding any culture in which the results can be taken as truth about the culture in its entirety. Values and ideals vary from person to person and from community to community. There are, however, commonalties found spread throughout the body of a culture and these can be very meaningful.
The western concept of leisure in most cases contains some notion of the need to get away from pressures, to have time for one's self, in order to do exactly what one would be doing were they not required to work. This is one concept which has not been found in some other cultures. In fact it was quite an offensive idea to the Indo-Canadian women interviewed for the Journal of Leisure research. These women had arrived in Canada in 1903 and made themselves homes here despite difficulty posed by extreme discrimination against Asian immigrants at the time. There were ten women interviewed for this study. Although it provides a strictly female view this research provides valuable insight into the cultural perception of leisure in India. Before conducting their interviews, researchers Susan C. Tirone and Susan M. Shaw sought advice from a professor from the Indo-Canadian community, familiar with qualitative research methods. She explained that using terms like leisure, hobbies and recreation would pr...
... middle of paper ...
...ople tend to be so perplexed about wasting time and about making the most of the time when they don't have to work that they drive themselves to exhaustion in an attempt to make "good use" of their leisure time. This is because of the extent to which we differentiate between the two. The majority of us are completely absorbed in the system of consumerism; We work in order to have money, we have money in order to buy things to amuse ourselves with. We now see leisure as if it were something we must get as much as possible of in the time allotted, and we gain little or no rejuvenation and replenishment from it as a result. There is evidence everywhere of the possibility of a world in which the line between work and leisure is much much thinner and it is becoming a very critical issue and we have a lot to gain by considering the views of other cultures in this matter.
Marks, L. (2006). The Loss of Leisure in a Culture of Overwork. Spirit of Change Magazine.
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.
Evidence suggests that families often enjoyed everyday leisure but in reality working class social life was divided by gender. Married women’s leisure tended to be separate from the public domain and was not very different from work, but was linked with domestic duties and family relations. It was during this period that to survive families had to send their sons and daughters into the labor force to supplement the earnings of the father, while the mother cooked, cleaned, cared for the children and manufactured goods in the home. The typical wage-earning woman of 1900 was young and single.
6. Freedom of Choice, fortunately in recreation and leisure we have the opportunity of selecting those activities that we like, can afford, and are able to perform. This is one of the characteristics that make leisure a unique experience. Fortunately, we have the freedom to select what we want in opposition to work, where we have to do what is told to us and expected from us, based on our contractual
Dill, Karen E., and Kathryn P. Thill. "Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People’s Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions." Sex Roles 57.11-12 (2007): 851-64. Print.
Stevenson, L. and Haberman D. Ten Theories of Human Nature, Oxford University Press 2009 Pieper J. Leisure The Basis of Culture, Ignatius Press 2009
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
Defining what the term leisure means is a complex undertaking for the simple fact it is dependent on the individual considering the concept. When reviewing the statement by Aristotle we must first understand his perspective regarding leisure and then apply that to examples throughout history. This essay will go through that process by comparing his standpoint with how the term leisure was applied to certain activities during ancient Rome and England through the centuries. In doing so the essay will reveal how the relevance of Aristoteles statement has diminished with time.
...or and the way they dress up. From this it concludes that the media and online gaming can create and reinforce gendered behaviors. Those video games affect the child identity and their perception of others.
Many video games portray women as objectified beings, purely used for sex appeal and to attract the larger male gamer population. We also see men idealised in a similar way as well – the males in video games are portrayed as muscly, brawny men. However, we rarely see a scantily clad man in a game, but there is a vast abundance of games which feature women wearing ‘sexy armour’, or a noticeable lack of substantial amount of clothing. This isn’t female-friendly as these games are made for men, causing women to feel alienated and uncomfortable.
3. “Video Games” by Chris Jozefowics. Published by Gareth Stevens Publishing 2010. Pleasantville, NY 10570-70000 USA. Produced by Editorials Directions Inc.
First of all, I want to talk about leisure activities that society offers us play and condition by it. From the novel, Brave New World, when D.H.C explains to his student about the achievement of their society, “It was decided to abolish the love of nature…‘but simultaneously we condition them to l...
During daily life, leisure plays a significant role of balancing people from mandatory social responsibility such as job and identity in society to own life pleasure and interests. In the concept of leisure, it is formed into three types: Casual Leisure, Serious Leisure, and Project-based Leisure, which this paper concentrates on the first two types. As a human being grown up, casual leisure is always excavated from intrinsical interests and it attracts a person to be pleasurable without any skill needed. However, when some type of casual leisure activities are developed into serious leisure which contains skills and professions, these activities rather become hobbies or even at a professional level which bring profound influence on and deepen
The amount of time experience in leisure events as a child has formed them to who they are today, with maybe the person not even realizing. So, “Researchers have consistently demonstrated a positive relationship between joint family leisure and family strength, but the nature of the family leisure relationship has remained poorly understood.” (Zabruskie) This poor understanding of leisure is due to lack of research spent over the years. That research is not because of money but just that fact no one has spent the
Q3. There is an obvious parallel between the Roman delict and the common law tort; but the analogy should not be pursued too far’. What are the key similarities and differences between roman delict and common law tort?