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Tony Blackshaw - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Two Rival Concepts of Devotional Leisure: Towards an Understanding of Twenty-First Century Human Creativity and the Possibility of Freedom
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2018Co-Authors: Tony BlackshawAbstract:The starting point of this article is that the ultimate objective of Sociology so far as the study of Leisure is concerned should be with understanding the ways in which twenty-first century modern men and women attempt to reconcile the demands of individuality and community (aka freedom and security) by focusing on what they choose to do when they can do anything at all. The first introductory part sets up the rest of the article by offering a brief critique of the Sociology of Leisure which operates with the somewhat startling assertion that in modern societies Leisure is largely consumerist in orientation and that as a result freedom is a fiction. Counteracting this assertion with a startling one of its own it is subsequently argued that the twentieth century interregnum saw modernity radically revise its modernity which led to a transformation in the power of human agency and emergence of the insistent voice ‘I too am in individual’. Taking as its starting point Peter Sloterdijk’s reading of Nietzsche’s imperative to ‘Become who you are’ articulated passionately in his book You must change your life (Sloterdijk 2013 ), the second part of the article argues that in the twenty-first century terms like authentic Leisure and consumerist Leisure, work and Leisure are not antithetical to one another, and there is a radical need to rethink how people give meaning and order to their lives though their Leisure pursuits. Here the article explores the relationship between Sloterdijk’s concept of anthropotechnics, the art of living and Leisure. The next part of the article fleshes out the theory of devotional Leisure which is one part of a more embracing project set out in the book Re-imagining Leisure studies (Blackshaw 2017 ). Here the article explores two contrasting ways of understanding devotional Leisure practice, namely ‘devotional Leisure’ and ‘performative Leisure’ by drawing respectively on the examples of surfing and car cruising. The article concludes with an attempt to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory forms of devotional Leisure practice with a discussion of urban exploration, speculating that their uniqueness to one another is never absolute, and the more you perceive their particularity, the more you understand their double nature, as simultaneously aspects of a third endeavour.
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The Two Rival Concepts of Devotional Leisure: Towards an Understanding of Twenty-First Century Human Creativity and the Possibility of Freedom
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2017Co-Authors: Tony BlackshawAbstract:The starting point of this article is that the ultimate objective of Sociology so far as the study of Leisure is concerned should be with understanding the ways in which twenty-first century modern men and women attempt to reconcile the demands of individuality and community (aka freedom and security) by focusing on what they choose to do when they can do anything at all. The first introductory part sets up the rest of the article by offering a brief critique of the Sociology of Leisure which operates with the somewhat startling assertion that in modern societies Leisure is largely consumerist in orientation and that as a result freedom is a fiction. Counteracting this assertion with a startling one of its own it is subsequently argued that the twentieth century interregnum saw modernity radically revise its modernity which led to a transformation in the power of human agency and emergence of the insistent voice ‘I too am in individual’. Taking as its starting point Peter Sloterdijk’s reading of Nietzsche’s imperative to ‘Become who you are’ articulated passionately in his book You must change your life (2013), the second part of the article argues that in the twenty-first century terms like authentic Leisure and consumerist Leisure, work and Leisure are not antithetical to one another, and there is a radical need to rethink how people give meaning and order to their lives though their Leisure pursuits. Here the article explores the relationship between Sloterdijk’s concept of anthropotechnics, the art of living and Leisure. The next part of the article fleshes out the theory of devotional Leisure which is one part of a more embracing project set out in the book Re-imagining Leisure studies (Blackshaw 2017). Here the article explores two contrasting ways of understanding devotional Leisure practice, namely ‘devotional Leisure’ and ‘performative Leisure’ by drawing respectively on the examples of surfing and car cruising. The article concludes with an attempt to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory forms of devotional Leisure practice with a discussion of urban exploration, speculating that their uniqueness to one another is never absolute, and the more you perceive their particularity, the more you understand their double nature, as simultaneously aspects of a third endeavour.
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The crisis in sociological Leisure studies and what to do about it
Annals of Leisure Research, 2014Co-Authors: Tony BlackshawAbstract:In recent years, social philosophers such as Zygmunt Bauman, Agnes Heller, Jacques Ranciere, Richard Rorty and Peter Sloterdijk have generated tremendous excitement by offering some revolutionary and radical ways of thinking about human life in the twenty-first century that present some fundamental challenges to Sociology as it is normally conducted. Responding to this trend, this article argues that we need to not only fundamentally re-think what we mean by theory in the Sociology of Leisure but also how we carry out research in Leisure studies. The first part of the article argues that orthodox sociological ‘Theory’ is dead and it offers some good reasons why this is so. It is subsequently argued that there is a crisis in Leisure theory which has its roots in the central tenets of Sociology. Taking its cue from Jacques Ranciere's classic study The Philosopher and His Poor, the article develops the argument that if social inequality was once upon a time the fundamental issue in the discursive formation k...
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The Man from Leisure: An Interview with Chris Rojek
Cultural Sociology, 2011Co-Authors: Tony BlackshawAbstract:This article is an interview with the eminent British sociologist, theorist of Leisure and stardom, publisher and critic of cultural studies Chris Rojek. It begins with an introduction that outlines his career trajectory and key publications, and puts some flesh on his particular way of doing Sociology. The interview itself falls into three broad parts. First, Rojek answers some questions about the source of his sociological imagination, his formative work on the Sociology of Leisure, and the relationship between his academic and publishing work. The second and third parts intersect one another. The second concentrates on Rojek’s key ideas and how these relate to some important themes and issues in cultural Sociology and the study of Leisure. The third part of the interview explores some shifts in Rojek’s work and how these are connected to major currents in cultural Sociology and the demise of Leisure studies. The interview concludes with reflections on the function and responsibilities of Sociology today.
Robert A. Stebbins - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Positive Sociology: An Overview
Positive Sociology of Leisure, 2020Co-Authors: Robert A. StebbinsAbstract:Study of the positive side of human life is in short supply in the social sciences, where fields like Sociology revolve primarily around disagreeable problems. Explaining positiveness must rest on a non-problematic model, namely, the Sociology of Leisure. Among its basic concepts are activity and personal agency. They play a pivotal role in the approach known as the “serious Leisure perspective.” As a complement to positive psychology, positive Sociology centers on social meanings, interpersonal interaction, human agency, and the personal and social conditions. It also centers on the activities in their social milieu or their micro-, meso-, and macro-level contexts. We must avoid its fragmentation by ensuring that both big-picture and small-picture theory and research parallel each other as the field grows.
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The Sociology of Leisure: an Estranged Child of Mainstream Sociology
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2018Co-Authors: Robert A. StebbinsAbstract:Starting with Veblen the rocky career of the Sociology of Leisure is traced up to the present. The field grows slowly during the first half of the twentieth century in North America and Britain and then from approximately 1950 to 1970 it enjoys a spurt of research. After that mainstream Sociology in various ways abandons its progeny referred to here as subdisciplinary Sociology of Leisure. Fortunately, interdisciplinary Sociology of Leisure comes alive and continues to develop a vibrant, research-based conceptual foundation anchored in new ideas bubbling up from the interdisciplinary side and trickling down from the disciplinary mainstream. Despite this ferment the sociological mainstream remains seriously out of touch with what is happening in the sociological part of interdisciplinary Leisure studies. This is most unfortunate. Leisure activities are universal and widely sought after. They are thus positive, a quality of social life to which mainstream Sociology, being problem-centered, has given short shrift.
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Serious Leisure: A Perspective for Our Time
2006Co-Authors: Robert A. StebbinsAbstract:"Serious Leisure" offers a comprehensive view and analysis of the current state of the Sociology of Leisure. Defining and differentiating the way people use their free time, Stebbins divides such activity into categories of serious, casual, and project-based Leisure that he further separates into a variety of types and subtypes. Together they comprise what he calls "serious Leisure." In this perspective, serious Leisure constitutes systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity sufficiently substantial and interesting in nature and requiring special skills, knowledge, and experience. Casual Leisure, though immediately, intrinsically rewarding, is by contrast a relatively short-lived pleasurable activity, requiring little or no special training to enjoy it. Project-based Leisure is a short-term, reasonably complicated, occasional creative undertaking carried out in free time. Stebbins sets out the basic concepts and propositions that make up the three forms, focusing on their essential elements. He takes stock of the serious Leisure literature as well as that for casual and project-based Leisure. Stebbins sees "serious Leisure" realized by way of a set of foundational concepts - organization, community, history, lifestyle, and culture - and several of their component areas. He reviews the history and background of the concept of serious Leisure and then adds historical commentary on, first, casual Leisure and, then, project-based Leisure. Finally, he examines the future and the importance of the serious Leisure perspective in a globalizing world, and some of its critical links with other fields of knowledge and practice, notably the nonprofit sector and preventive medicine. Together with its original insights, "Serious Leisure" offers a single, handy, coherent, comprehensive resource. It will be of interest to sociologists, labor studies specialists, and economists.
Karl Spracklen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Conclusion to Positive Sociology of Leisure
Positive Sociology of Leisure, 2020Co-Authors: Shintaro Kono, Anju Beniwal, Priyanka Baweja, Karl SpracklenAbstract:This concluding chapter summarizes all the chapters in this volume on positive Sociology of Leisure (PSL), while identifying common themes across them. Some of the common themes are represented in the book’s sections: meanings of Leisure; aging; gender, sexuality, and family; community, youth, and education; and arts and creativity. In addition to these section themes, we also note several common characteristics of PSL, including a balanced view of Leisure phenomena, lifespan perspective, methodological diversity, interdisciplinarity, and representations of different cultures. The chapter also outlines three main tasks to be addressed in the future PSL studies, including theory development, evidence building based on various methods, and cultural diversity.
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Introduction to Positive Sociology of Leisure
Positive Sociology of Leisure, 2020Co-Authors: Shintaro Kono, Anju Beniwal, Priyanka Baweja, Karl SpracklenAbstract:This introduction chapter describes the origin of this book project and the field of positive Sociology of Leisure (PSL), drawing on Stebbins’ works and the positive Sociology movement. The chapter also defines PSL as an area of research that examines social aspects of Leisure life with a focus on the optimal functioning of relationship, group, community, organization, and other social units. Moreover, PSL is connected to the extant Leisure studies literature to show that there is a history of PSL-like works in the field. Yet, the chapter also points out that more focused and articulated PSL research is necessary to further advance happiness studies and Leisure studies. Lastly, it provides an overview of the rest of this book’s structure.
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Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure
Global Leisure and the Struggle for a Better World, 2018Co-Authors: Anju Beniwal, Rashmi Jain, Karl SpracklenAbstract:In this introduction, the editors make the case for the book’s structure and format and its focus on Sociology of Leisure and Leisure studies seen through local, virtual and global perspectives. They discuss the history and development of Sociology of Leisure in Research Committee 13 (RC13 Sociology of Leisure) of the International Sociological Association, from which the book emerged.
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Imagining the Scene and the Memory of the F-Club: Talking About Lost Punk and Post-Punk Spaces in Leeds
Punk & Post Punk, 2016Co-Authors: Karl Spracklen, Stephen Henderson, David ProcterAbstract:The F-Club in Leeds, UK, was a punk and post-punk night and club from the 1970s into the 1980s. Leeds as a city has a reputation for alternative music scenes, and the F-Club is part of the history recalled by musicians and fans locally. In this paper, we interview people who publicly identified with going to the F-Club back in their youth, to map connections as well as memories, identity-work and myth-making. We are interested in Leisure spaces and Leisure lives, as well as cultural spaces and identity-work. We explore the history of the F-Club, its place in wider networks and the memories of it by those who attended it. We explore the ways in which the F-Club is remembered and talked about by self-declared members of the scenes around the club. Our interest is not so much in mapping and understanding the identity-work and the community of the F-Club as it actually happened, but how our respondents construct these things now from their own memories. This paper also contributes to methodological and theoretical debates about network analysis against ethnography in the Sociology of music, and defends the latter as a way to construct an emerging public Sociology of Leisure.
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Leisure, Sports & Society
2013Co-Authors: Karl SpracklenAbstract:Introduction: What is Sociology of Leisure? PART I: UNDERSTANDING Leisure 1. A History and Philosophy of Leisure 2. Leisure and Modernity 3. Leisure and Work 4. Leisure as Function PART II: Leisure SOCIOLOGIES 5. Leisure and Structure 6. Leisure and Inequality 7. Leisure and Identity 8. Leisure and Community 9. Leisure Subcultures PART III: Leisure TRENDS 10. Leisure and Globalization 11. Leisure and Commodification 12. Leisure and Postmodernity 13. Postmodern Leisure 14. Liquid Leisure and Intentionality 15. Leisure and Resistance 16. Dark Leisure 17. The Future of Leisure PART IV: THE MEANING AND PURPOSE of Leisure 18. The Meaning and Purpose of Leisure
Ken Roberts - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Sociology of Leisure and the Wars of the Lifestyle Gurus
Idleness Indolence and Leisure in English Literature, 2014Co-Authors: Ken RobertsAbstract:Nowadays we are besieged with advice on how to live healthier, happier, more satisfying and more fulfilling lives. It has always been so but today there are many more experts — medical doctors, psychologists, sociologists, economists and therapists of various kinds as well as the bishops who have longer-standing claims to speak authoritatively. Today all their voices are amplified by the numerous and ubiquitous media, and today’s experts do not speak in unison. Some urge us to ‘do more’ while others say that we must ‘slow down’. The former claim that television and the motor car have turned us into couch potatoes. The computer, Internet and telephone are said to have added to the damage. It is also claimed that apart from taking too little exercise we are eating more than we need and much more than we are able to burn off. Hence the spread of obesity. The availability of 24/7 television, plus our ability to record or otherwise catch up with broadcasts, to play interactive computer games, and to surf the web non-stop are said to be leading us into physical and mental indolence from which we must be rescued.
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Sociology of Leisure
Sociopedia, 2013Co-Authors: Ken RobertsAbstract:This article reviews the topics that have been investigated, the research methods that have been employed, the main theoretical perspectives, agreed conclusions and issues that remain unresolved since this sub-discipline was formed in the 1960s. We see that solid advances in knowledge have been accomplished through research into the relationships between uses of Leisure and occupations, gender roles and life course stages. Meanwhile, grand claims about the role of Leisure in society have yet to be developed into testable theories about the roles of particular kinds of Leisure under specified circumstances. Also, it is only recently that the Sociology of Leisure has been forced to entertain the possibility that the western version may not be the sole form of modern Leisure. keywords age ◆ gender ◆ Leisure ◆ life course ◆ social class ◆ time ◆ unemployment ◆ well-being
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Why old questions are the right response to new challenges: The Sociology of Leisure in the 1990s.
Loisir et Société Society and Leisure, 1997Co-Authors: Ken RobertsAbstract:Abstract It is argued that, contrary to much current opinion within and outside the discipline, the Sociology of Leisure is a successful enterprise whose current problems arise from success rather than failure. The success of the project can be seen in the reliable methods of investigation, and the robust answers that have been delivered to all the basic questions about the role of Leisure in modern societies. These questions are: how much Leisure do people have, how might they use it, how do they actually use their Leisure, why, and what are the consequences? It is also argued that related fields of enquiry—cultural studies, into consumption, the phenomenology of everyday life, and specific uses of Leisure such as sports, the arts and tourism—complement but cannot be adequate replacements for the Sociology of Leisure. This leads to the conclusion that seeking new conceptual foundations and research methods for the Sociology of Leisure will be counter-productive. Rather, the challenge of the 1990s is to a...
Utsa Mukherjee - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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towards a critical Sociology of children s Leisure
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2020Co-Authors: Utsa MukherjeeAbstract:In this article, I contend that the Sociology of Leisure in particular and Leisure studies in general has been shaped by adult-centric assumptions which have marginalized children’s perspectives on and experiences of Leisure within theory building exercises. Consequently, Leisure researchers who do empirical work on children’s Leisure have largely eschewed critical debates about children’s agency, social positioning and lived citizenship among others that have been developed by the ‘new’ Sociology of childhood. Failure to build bridges with other areas of scholarship such as sociological childhood studies, has intensified the intellectual isolation of Leisure research. Here, I propose a sustained dialogue between Leisure studies and childhood studies which will not only widen the intellectual breadth of Leisure theory and make it more inclusive, but also enable Leisure studies to have an impact on the new social studies of childhood. In illustrating what such a collaboration might entail, I outline a conceptual schema of three interlocking genres of children’s Leisure – namely organized, family and casual Leisure – based on existing studies conducted by researchers in Leisure, childhood and family studies that offer a roadmap for the development of a new critical Sociology of children’s Leisure.
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Towards a Critical Sociology of Children’s Leisure
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 2020Co-Authors: Utsa MukherjeeAbstract:In this article, I contend that the Sociology of Leisure in particular and Leisure studies in general has been shaped by adult-centric assumptions which have marginalized children’s perspectives on and experiences of Leisure within theory building exercises. Consequently, Leisure researchers who do empirical work on children’s Leisure have largely eschewed critical debates about children’s agency, social positioning and lived citizenship among others that have been developed by the ‘new’ Sociology of childhood. Failure to build bridges with other areas of scholarship such as sociological childhood studies, has intensified the intellectual isolation of Leisure research. Here, I propose a sustained dialogue between Leisure studies and childhood studies which will not only widen the intellectual breadth of Leisure theory and make it more inclusive, but also enable Leisure studies to have an impact on the new social studies of childhood. In illustrating what such a collaboration might entail, I outline a conceptual schema of three interlocking genres of children’s Leisure – namely organized, family and casual Leisure – based on existing studies conducted by researchers in Leisure, childhood and family studies that offer a roadmap for the development of a new critical Sociology of children’s Leisure.