Coming to Terms with Leisure and Globalization

Abstract

This article is concerned with the engagement of leisure studies as an academic field and as organized, professional intervention with the phenomenon of globalization, using the exemplificatory case of the World Leisure and Recreation Association’s (now World Leisure’s) Sao Paulo Declaration on Leisure and Globalization as a point of reference. Deploying a combination of globalization theory and ‘autoethnographic’ research in relation to instances of mediated leisure culture, it reflects on conceptual imprecision and potential contradictions in the Declaration as indicative of wider problems in the disciplinary field. Leisure studies researchers are enjoined to avoid complicity in promoting both dystopian and utopian versions of globalization theory, and sceptically to assess the complex interaction of globalizing and other macro/micro processes. The article concludes by arguing for a wide‐ranging, critically reflexive leisure studies research agenda supported by principled strategic interventions in leisure power relations.     

Leisure and Consumer Culture in Japan

This paper uses the lens of Charles Chesnutt’s short story collection, Conjure woman (1899 Chesnutt, C.W. 1899. The conjure woman, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.  [Google Scholar]) and other tales of his in the same genre, to focus some of the theoretical problems and ontological struggles existing at the nexus of African‐American labour and leisure in the late nineteenth‐century US. Specifically, it illuminates an African‐American counterculture of incorporation. While the national incorporation of political, economic and cultural interests required the disavowal of black citizenship, African‐Americans defended their claims to national inclusion and attempted to repair the ravages of slavery and segregation on black bodies and black memory.     

The Influence of Confucianism on Women’s Leisure in Taiwan

Abstract

Confucian philosophy has traditionally had a considerable influence on many aspects of the lives of the Taiwanese people. It is therefore necessary to take this belief structure into account in order to explain Taiwanese women’s leisure perceptions and behaviours. The purpose of this study is to examine this issue. The factors that constrain women’s leisure in Taiwan are identified. These categories can be broadly termed economic, domestic, social, and cultural constraints     

The Role of Moral Philosophies,Operational Criteria and Operational Strategies in Determining Equitable Allocation of Resources for Leisure Services in the United States

Abstract

This paper revises an earlier taxonomy of equity models that was published in this journal in 1988. This revised taxonomy consists of three elements. First, it extends the original taxonomy by proposing a set of moral philosophies, positioning them as antecedents of the operational strategies that determine equity outcomes. Six are identified: Rawlsian, egalitarianism, benefit principle, utilitarianism, libertarianism and paternal professionalism. It is suggested that communitarianism offers a philosophical basis for reconciling some of the antithetical perspectives embedded in these six moral philosophies. A second element in the taxonomy suggests the operational criterion flowing from each of the moral philosophies when it is adapted as the basis for policy decisions regarding the allocation of resources to leisure services. The third element identifies 14 operational strategies that determine equity outcomes. Their linkage to operational criteria and moral philosophies is shown. Potential equity consequences and implications of the operational strategies are illustrated and compared by use of a scenario relating the allocation of resources to park land acquisition.     

Ethnic segmentation in leisure time activities in Estonia

This paper examines the differences between the leisure time activities of members of the minority and majority populations of Estonia. Because people only meet when they undertake similar activities, it is important for social cohesion to identify the kinds of activities that different ethnic groups engage in during their free time. The data for this study were obtained from the Estonian Time Use Surveys of 2000 and 2010. In this paper, we analyse rates of participation in various cultural events, entertainment activities, outdoor recreation and sport. Our analysis reveals important ethnic differences in almost all leisure activities that partly stem from the uneven distribution of minorities over settlement types. Less than half of the differences relate to socio-economic status and individual wealth. The rest of ethnic segmentation in leisure activities can be attributed to preferences, differential residential patterns of ethnic groups over Estonia’s regions and the feeling of being a stranger in leisure time places where other ethnic groups are already over-represented.     

A (home)land with a sea: the leisure and tourism in the Western Balkans of Kosovan migrants and their children living in London

This paper focuses on the trips to the homeland and the embedded tourist practices of Kosovan migrants in the Western Balkans. Drawing from the diasporic tourism literature, it emphasises the role of (material) space and place in these movements and tourist practices. Findings show that return trips to Kosovo involved for the participants leisure mobilities in the context of Albania and other Albanian-speaking areas in the Balkans. The paper concludes by questioning the strong connection in the existing literature between diasporic tourism and ethnicity, arguing that the former is also affected by material space – in the Kosovan case, more specifically, the sea – as an aspect of migrants’ experiences. Migration, leisure mobilities and tourism in the case of Kosovan migrants and the (West) Balkans region, at least, appear to have their historical, temporal and spatial specificities.     

Women’s snowboarding – some experiences and perceptions of competition

This article focuses on female snowboarders’ experiences with, and perceptions of, snowboard competitions. The article is based on a study conducted at an international women’s snowboard camp. The purpose of the camp was to discuss strategies for promoting females’ participation in the snowboard organisations and in snowboard competition. Interviews were held with eight participants aged 18–31?years. Most of the participants had been previously involved in competition. Their experience had been both negative and positive. Most of the participants perceived snowboard facilities (Big air and Half-pipe) as being too large for females and a possible constraint on participation. Moreover, the study’s findings reveal ideas concerning alternative competition formats as well as arguments for ‘women-only’ sessions as a feasible way to reach more female snowboarders, to provide skill enhancement, and to increase participation in the competitions. The findings are discussed in light of the development of snowboarding and Bourdieu’s theoretical framework.     

Leading,following and sexism in social dance: change of meaning as contained secondary adjustments

By assigning men the role of ‘lead’ and women the role of ‘follow’, social dance can be viewed as a form of serious leisure that appears to perpetuate a system that positions women as subordinate to men. Interviews with 29 women and 10 men who self-identified as social dancers revealed that women used several strategies to create meanings for following that allowed them to achieve parity with men while operating in an explicitly sexist idioculture. Women’s interpretation of following and the relationship between leading and following was as learning a complex set of skills and abilities that allowed them to make an important contribution to the dance. The meanings women applied to following can be understood as contained secondary adjustments. By viewing following as a performance that requires considerable skill, women can expose the idea that the role of follow is subordinate to the lead as a social construction, and, in the process, use being a follow to subvert the expected social organisation.     

Practices and meaning of purposive family leisure among working- and middle-class families

This article explores the relationship between purposive family leisure and social class in Australian families. A brief review of family leisure literature is followed by a review of conceptual developments in family sociology and the new sociology of class in order to build a richer conceptual and theoretical base for exploring purposive family leisure. Qualitative data are reported from semi-structured interviews with parents in 28 working- and middle-class families in Brisbane, Australia. An analysis of family leisure practices show differences in what constitutes family leisure and its display. Moreover, parents’ stated intentions for engaging in family leisure practices suggest that there is a classed dimension to purposive leisure, in that working- and middle-class parents emphasise different values and imagined futures for their children.