Cultural Consonance in Leisure,Leisure Satisfaction,Life Satisfaction,and Self-Rated Health in Urban Taiwan

The purpose of this study threefold: to determine whether a shared cultural model of the importance of a set of leisure activities to a good leisure life existed in urban Taiwan, the degree to which cultural consonance in leisure mediates the relationship between leisure constraints and leisure satisfaction, and the degree to which leisure satisfaction affects life satisfaction and self-rated health. Results indicate that a cultural model of the importance of leisure activities to a good leisure life existed among sample members. Second, higher levels of self-reported participation in leisure activities that are culturally agreed upon as more important for a good leisure life are more strongly associated with leisure satisfaction than are activities culturally agreed upon as less important. Finally, leisure satisfaction strongly predicts both life satisfaction and self-rated health.     

Formalism, logic and reality: a Keynesian analysis

It is the purpose of this paper to elaborate on the argumentthat formalism is non-neutral; analyses which today would bedescribed as informal turn into something quite different whenformalised. The reasons for non-neutrality refer to the choiceof assumptions or axioms, the choice of method, the type oflogic employed and closure. Focusing on the last three of these,the paper addresses the question of how to move from resultsobtained with formal methods under conditions of closure tothe reality one is attempting to model. We explore the needfor provisional closure to analyse open systems and for a rangeof methods to complement formal modelling in the attempt tounderstand the complex reality of an economic system.     

Leisure and antileisure in game play

Abstract

Leisure is often described as being intrinsically motivated and offering the element of choice. Although games are normally considered recreational or leisure activities, there are certain circumstances in which they take on qualities that are not only nonleisurelike (i.e., lacking in intrinsic motivation and choice) but are actually destructive to the leisure experience. It is suggested that certain aspects of game‐playing situations can destroy the leisurelike qualities of participation and result in abandonment of the activity. These aspects, which include social pressures to participate and conflicts that develop in the social and psychological environment of play, appear to erode intrinsic motivation and perceived freedom of choice.     

Editorial: Opportunities for Cross-Cultural Comparative Research on Leisure

Cross-cultural comparative research on leisure is extremely rare in both the anthropological and leisure literatures. The opportunities for conducting such research are excellent, however. Ethnographic data archives, such as the Human Relations Area Files, are widely available and contain a trove of information on leisure in societies, both past and present, from around the world. Methods for cross-cultural comparative research have improved greatly in the past two decades. The purpose of this editorial is to urge leisure researchers to make use of both cross-cultural comparative methods and existing sources of data.     

Unresolved questions in monetary theory: A critical review

Summary The basic questions of monetary theory remain unanswered. There is little agreement on a definition of money or what assets serve as money, much less on the nature of the private and social costs and benefits of a money economy. Controversy over these questions is reviewed critically. It is concluded that the extensive literature on these matters is not in fact very illuminating. Some new avenues of enquiry are suggested. Generalisation of Clower's exchange matrix suggests that money is only one of a hierarchy of budget restraints, and that money's contribution to efficient price-setting goes beyond its role as numeraire. Finally, questions of control of the money supply are considered.She wishes to thank the participants in the Economic Anthropology Seminar on Means of Payment at University College London for their comments and suggestions, especially Mary Douglas (UCL), Gerald Cohen (UCL), Morris Perlman (LSE) and Charles Goodhart (Bank of England). The comments of Yoram Barzel (University of Washington), Thomas Rymes (Carleton University), and members of the Money Study Group are also gratefully acknowledged. Resposibility for the outcome is entirely the author's.