Mainland Chinese Canadian Immigrants' Leisure Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being: Results of a Two-Year Longitudinal Study

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine whether recent Chinese Canadian immigrants' (a) leisure satisfaction, happiness, and life satisfaction changed over a two-year period and (b) if leisure satisfaction affected their subjective well-being (SWB) over this same period. Participants completed an initial, trilingual telephone questionnaire (N = 220) and then were recontacted every six months for two years. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that leisure satisfaction decreased over the two-year period, likely because of “leisure shock,” employment of a “withdrawn” strategy, or both. The results also showed that leisure satisfaction significantly and positively affected happiness and life satisfaction. Study limitations are identified, theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future research recommendations are outlined.     

Hard-Core Leisure: A Conceptualization

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research reflection is to describe a slice of serious leisure that we call hard-core leisure, which we define as a form of serious leisure that involves extraordinary commitment that is directed toward an “authentic” style of social world activity. Using examples from birdwatching, Civil War reenacting, and climbing, we explain how hard-core participants separate themselves from other participants in terms of what they believe are superior styles of participation and unusual degrees of effort, perseverance, and conduct. Too often, serious participants in any given leisure activity are seen as homogeneous in their attitudes and behavior. The concept of hard-core leisure makes problematic this assumption by bringing to light an extreme form of leisure participation.     

Playing in the Posthuman Band: Toward an Aesthetics of Intra-Action in Musical Leisure

Abstract

In this article we use ideas from theorists associated with the “new materialist” or “posthuman” turns in contemporary philosophy in order to challenge the conception of the musical subject posited in aesthetic contemplation advanced by what we term the “pedagogical music world,” and to pursue the possibilities afforded by an aesthetics of intra-action exemplified in practices of the musical “jam.” We return to ancient Greek conceptions of music and leisure (mousikē and scholē), mediated by posthuman theoretical concerns in an examination of the nature of musical affect to argue that an aesthetics of intra-action necessitates a distributed and immanent notion of musical agency rather than individual and transcendent one. Through this discussion, we attempt to trouble the ideas put forth by the pedagogical music world to illuminate leisure potential as imagined in the “posthuman band.”     

Why People Play at Work: A Theoretical Examination of Leisure-at-Work

ABSTRACT

Postmodern perspectives on work and leisure acknowledge the interwoven nature of these domains, an example being the increasing number of organizations intentionally incorporating leisure into the employee experience. Existing research, however, provides no specific theoretical guidance regarding the potential impacts of strategically integrating recreation activities into the work domain. Thus, based on positive organizational scholarship and leisure science theories, we build an individual level model describing the phenomenon of leisure-at-work (LAW). We propose LAW activities have the ability to produce feelings of personal expressiveness at work as moderated by employees' perceptions of the activities. Personal expressiveness then mediates LAW activities' ability to promote the development of organizational commitment, work engagement, and resilience among employees.     

Anatomy is not destiny: A feminist analysis of the scholarship on women's leisure

Abstract

The extent of the scholarship on women has accelerated over the past 20 years, yet many questions remain unanswered concerning what is known about women and their leisure behavior. Social science research about women and leisure that analyzes the interaction between the environment and biological sex has aided in understanding leisure behavior more completely and has enabled researchers to conclude that anatomy is not destiny. An analysis focusing on the critical corrective, and transformative aspects of feminist research provides a way to examine the trends in research on women specifically concerning women and leisure. The purpose of this article is to examine the foundations of the emerging scholarship on women and leisure, especially the research on gender differences, from a feminist perspective. The emerging trends in feminist research and the “state of the art” concerning scholarship on women as it is occurring in other disciplines is examined in light of how research in other fields may offer guidance for leisure research.     

Advancing Theory for Understanding Travelers' Own Explanations of Discretionary Travel Behavior

Abstract

This article uses narrative, case study analysis to examine consumer leisure and travel behavior. Adopting an interpretive research paradigm, the article examines travel behavior using face-to-face interviews of traveler informants, applies the folk theory of the mind, ecological systems theory, and the fits-like-a-glove model. Findings from the investigation indicate that most individual and household leisure and travel-relating behavior results from a “causal historical wave” in which an array of events come together, interact, and cause individuals to participate in certain behaviors and that most travel behavior is the result of automatic thinking rather than a rational or constructive process.     

Social differences in leisure behavior: Measurement and interpretation

This article examines how three major dimensions of leisure behavior, i.e., rates of leisure participation, money expenditure for leisure goods and services and discretionary time available for leisure pursuits, are distributed across various socio‐demographic and socio‐occupational groups. The money expenditures for leisure, it is argued, follow traditional class lines most closely; the rates of leisure participation are characterized by a more egalitarian distribution; and the amounts of leisure time are often inversely related to social centrality and social status. The article interprets these varying patterns of leisure inequalities as a function of the cumulative nature of leisure participation as opposed to the “finite” nature of leisure time, and as a reflection of the complex relationship between leisure, work, income, leisure class, and leisure status.     

Leisure and resistance in an ageing society

This paper examines the development of a dominant discourse on ageing in a culture which devalues the aged and excludes them from the productive sphere. Through literature, the media, language, humour and in social science theory, research and social policy the underlying assumption has been that ageing means deficiency and a necessary curtailment of physical activities and social involvement. In contrast, the developing discourse on leisure emphasizes both what a person can do rather than what she or he cannot do, and the importance of an individual's own choice of leisure experience. In applying Foucault's ideas on discourse and resistance, this paper argues that in the intersection of these contradictory discourses, resistance to ageism is possible. Specific case studies from qualitative leisure research demonstrate that various resistances to the dominant discourses on ageing can be made through leisure. Thus leisure presents the potential to challenge ageism and the self-fulfilling prophesy of underuse of physical and mental abilities in old age.     

Gay,but not Inclusive: Boundary Maintenance in an LGBTQ Space

ABSTRACT

Using the framework of spaces for leisure and the homonormative lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, this study examines the ways in which an LGBTQ “gayborhood” creates and maintains boundaries of exclusion based on hegemonic norms. Through ethnographic observations and interviews with both homeless LGBTQ individuals and community stakeholders (those in positions of power), this study demonstrates the processes through which hegemonic boundaries are created via (1) the symbolic boundary of respectability, (2) policing, and (3) exclusionary nonprofit practices. Data further reveal the complex relationship between identity and acceptance in LGBTQ public spaces of leisure, demonstrating the importance of “thinking intersectionally.”     

Leisure Spaces,Community, and Third Places

ABSTRACT

After decades of highlighting the decline of social networks, leisure spaces as third places constitute a welcomed approach to mediate this loss. Third places are defined as public gathering places that ultimately contribute to the strength of community. We appreciate the concept and believe that it has and will continue to influence scholars in the field of leisure. For this reason, this research reflection argues Oldenburg's conceptualization of third places requires reconsideration. Specifically, we address the increasing prevalence of technology and question Oldenburg's claim that technology contributes to the isolation of individuals. We also encourage a more complex understanding of third places—one that is beyond the idealized notion of public places. Oldenburg's social dimensions of third places (enjoyment, regularity, pure sociability/social leveler, and diversity) are offered as a useful framework. More specifically, we argue that diversity is the most relevant characteristic when exploring third places as a platform for community.     

“Go Out on the Weekends to the Forest,Get Trashed and Dance”: Residual Behaviors and Reconfigured Environments at Psychedelic Trance Festivals

ABSTRACT

Psytrance music festivals provide familiar environments, typically outside city limits, where release is sought from daily reality, working routines, or common sense. While sharing these goals with other leisure activities, the festivals also aim for the actualization of encountering unknown or alien destinations. This journey is enabled by the media ecology of the festival, which notably includes the effects of psychedelic drugs. Drawing on ethnographic research of Melbourne-based festivals, this article explores the cultural meanings of getting “trashed” or “wasted” on psychedelic drugs within the outdoor festival environment. The partygoers' temporary retreat into nature ties into the theme of an exile that traces back to the 1960s and still pervades psychedelic culture. This article reworks this theme by addressing the ironic reconfiguration of nature at psytrance festivals, where excessive media consumption leads to an authentic way to connect our urban cultures with nature in its contemporary unauthenticity.     

The correlation coefficient and problems of inference in recreation research

Correlation analysis frequently has been used for the investigation of leisure research questions. This paper illustrates the problem of “unequal weighting of cases” which is present in the use of correlation analysis. It further illustrates how this problem can mislead researchers when they make substantive inferences about leisure.     

The biochemistry behind human behavior: Implications for leisure sciences and services

Abstract

This research reflection explores the relationship between biochemistry and human behavior. More specifically, it examines the implications associated with two neural pathways in the brain, one leading to pleasure and the other to contentment. After describing how the two pathways work and where they lead, we turn the reader’s attention to the implications for leisure sciences and services, including the way we think about leisure behavior, how we plan for it, and, ultimately, how we might rethink the leisure service profession’s obligation in light of its classical philosophical foundations.     

Broadcasting and the Problem of Enforced Leisure during the 1930s

Abstract

For many people during the early 20th century, leisure was not a voluntary expression of one’s spare time, but rather a consequence of mass, long‐term unemployment caused by a global economic recession. In the context of the British labour market, millions of workers in the 1930s were the hapless casualties of what was commonly described at the time as ‘enforced leisure’. For these people, the relatively recent advancements in disposable income, leisure and social facilities, and living standards were of little relevance, in that they were forced to spend much of their time on the periphery of what were for most people everyday social activities. Drawing on Foucauldian theories of governmentality and archival research, this paper examines the ways in which early broadcasting sought to police the problem of enforced leisure and its perceived effects by rendering the experience and behaviour of the unemployed more governable.     

Creating Distance from Body Issues: Exploring New Materialist Feminist Possibilities for Renegotiating Gendered Embodiment

Abstract

The body’s active role in the production of gendered embodiments is a key focus for feminist cultural studies and leisure studies. The article draws on new materialist feminist scholarship to explore how gender relations are produced and negotiated in physical culture through one case study example taken from a wider study of young people’s experiences of the body and self-image over time. The article explores how gendered embodiment is assembled through the socio-material circumstances of everyday life. For one particiapnt, 'Ann', “creating distance” from appearance concerns was an embodied process which involved new practices and encounters (e.g., walking for leisure, reading feminist literature) and relationships and engagements with others (e.g., a partner, friends, family). The potential for feminism to open possibilities to imagine the body otherwise is also discussed in relation to recent efforts to foster social justice imperatives in leisure sciences and feminist physical cultural studies.     

An Integration of Constraints and Benefits Within an Older Women's Social Club: An Examination,Extension and Critique

ABSTRACT

The serious leisure perspective (SLP), which divides leisure activities into three distinct forms (serious, casual, and project-based), has been developed by Robert Stebbins over the last 40 years. This article evaluates the perspective as theory and as a typology. The theory associated with the SLP concerning social worlds, identification, and optimal leisure lifestyles is found to be generally untested because it has been developed in relation to the serious leisure form only. The validity of the typology is questioned on the grounds that “seriousness” is a continuum, rather than discrete categories, and that most leisure activities can be engaged in with varying degrees of seriousness. It is proposed that the SLP be replaced by a more flexible, open research approach, the Leisure Experience Perspective, which consolidates features of the SLP and other research traditions and theoretical perspectives.     

Leisure and Active Lifestyles: Research Reflections

Leisure researchers have been studying active living for many years. The research, however, has focused more on individual factors than social and environmental determinants that enable physical activity and health. The focus of the introduction to this special issue on “leisure and active lifestyles” is to highlight leisure literature that can be directly tied to active living. These dimensions include outdoor recreation, community recreation areas and facilities, time usage, barriers and constraints, and social interdependence. We provide an overview of the significance of the papers in this special issue and offer some reflections regarding future research related to active living, physical activity, health, and leisure. We underline the value of the holistic approach evident in leisure research and call for broader methods and more collaborative transdisciplinary research.     

Functions of privacy in wilderness environments

Abstract

Westin (1967), in his Privacy and Freedom, suggests that there are four basic functions of privacy in society (personal autonomy, emotional release, self‐evaluation, limited and protected communication). Westin's theoretical model was examined for its utility in understanding the functions of privacy in wilderness environments. Importance ratings of 106 wilderness users for 28 scale items which characterized the privacy functions were factor analyzed. The factor analysis yielded five functions instead of Westin's four; however, Westin's model served as a valuable tool for interpreting the functions. “Emotional release” was rated the most important function, while “resting the mind from anxiety and mental fatigue” was the highest rated individual item.     

The City as a Destination

ABSTRACT

The findings of this original research provide a methodology that eliminates the subjectivity inherent in prior methods utilized to rank or gauge the capability of a city to attract delegates to conventions of professional associations. These new analytical techniques may also be employed to estimate convention attendee market shares, as well as determine reliable rankings of a destination's “attractiveness” and its financial or economic sustainability. The criteria identified in this study also comprise the “vital signs” for measuring a city's future health.     

Entering the Minds of Serial Murderers: The Application of Forensic Leisure Science to Homicide Research

ABSTRACT

Years ago, a small handful of leisure scholars suggested that serial murder may be a form of leisure. However, to date this possibility remains virtually unexplored. This article draws from recent research to share reflections and rich, new insights on how leisure science may provide important contributions to serial homicide researchers and law enforcement personnel. At the same time, exploring such intersections offers leisure scholars new ways of understanding familiar concepts and theories. Possibilities for future research are discussed.