Leisure Cultures in Urban Europe, c. 1700-1870: A Transnational Perspective (Manchester U.P. 2016). Edited with Peter Borsay (original) (raw)

A People's History of Leisure Studies: Early 1700s to the Late 1800s

As a western social construction, our modern views of leisure were founded by the emergence of new French and British societies from the early 1700s to the late 1800s. The city, and the lifestyle that accompanied it, brought forth an articulation of a leisured society for all citizenry. The major capital campaigns, world fairs, open parks, public museums, cafés, shopping districts, and other edifices articulated what we now see as modern leisure spaces. However, within leisure texts little has been considered and discussed in how Trans-Atlantic Slavery, Imperial Colonialism, and Independence Debt led to the allowance of an emerging and expanding leisured class during and post-Industrial Revolution. What is articulated is an alternate historical interpretation that is intended to be the first in a series of critical commentaries on the: (1) European foundations of leisure; (2) leisure history centered on Europe; (3) financial gains from slavery, colonialism, and debts; and, (4) implications of revising our understanding of leisure history.

“Coffeehouses: Leisure and Sociability in Ottoman Istanbul,” Leisure Cultures in Urban Europe, 1700-1870, (eds.) Peter Nigel Borsay and Jan Hein Furnee (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016), pp. 161-181.

Christmas in nineteenth-century England Neil Armstrong Healthy living in the Alps: the origins of winter tourism in Switzerland, 1860-1914 Susan Barton Working-class organisations and popular tourism, 1840-1970 Susan Barton Leisure, citizenship and working-class men in Britain, 1850-1945 Brad Beaven Leisure and cultural confl ict in twentieth-century Britain Brett Bebber (ed.) British railway enthusiasm Ian Carter Railways and culture in Britain Ian Carter Time, work and leisure: life changes in England since 1700 Hugh Cunningham Darts in England, 1900-39: a social history Patrick Chaplin Holiday camps in twentieth-century Britain: packaging pleasure Sandra Trudgen Dawson History on British television: constructing nation, nationality and collective memory Robert Dillon The food companions: cinema and consumption in wartime Britain, 1939-45 Richard Farmer Songs of protest, songs of love: popular ballads in eighteenth-century Britain Robin Ganev Heroes and happy endings: class, gender, and nation in popular fi lm and fi ction in interwar Britain Christine Grandy Women drinking out in Britain since the early twentieth century David W. Gutzke The BBC and national identity in Britain, 1922-53 Thomas Hajkowski From silent screen to multi-screen: a history of cinema exhibition in Britain since 1896 Stuart Hanson Juke box Britain: Americanisation and youth culture, 1945-60 Adrian Horn Popular culture in London, c. 1890-1918: the transformation of entertainment Andrew Horrall Popular culture and working-class taste in Britain, 1930-39: a round of cheap diversions? Robert James The experience of suburban modernity: how private transport changed interwar London John M. Law

The Concept of Leisure as Culture-dependent–Between Tradition and Modernity

Journal of Cultural and Religious Studies, 2014

The article deals with the concept of leisure in Israel in terms of time, activity, state of mind, and Jewish values. The purpose of the study is to examine changes in how leisure is conceived in Judaism and the differences in the secular and religious conception of leisure, and the special relationship between leisure, work, and religious obligations and tradition. The study reviews the factors that have shaped the conception of leisure and its developments over time in Jewish religious society in general and in Israel in particular, which is a country with cultural foundations in both tradition and modernity, and one that strives to strike a balance between its multiple commitments to its religious roots and its modern democratic nature. The study proceeds to discuss the implications of such conceptions and developments for the Israeli education system. The article may have practical implications for imparting leisure behaviors, an educational challenge involving people's attitude to leisure.

A People's History of Leisure Studies: A Historiography of Four Traditions of Critical Leisure Studies

Leisure/Loisir, 2021

Recent calls for papers in numerous academic journals within leisure studies have focused on a global and nation-specific climate that leans towards autocratic policy development, fascist rhetoric as the norm, and a greater expansion of a neoliberal philosophy. A critical leisure approach critiques leisure studies and leisure research for what the construction of leisure is in its origin and in its function. The aim of this discussion is to present counter, critical narratives to leisure studies. Two hundred and ninety-two texts that focused on the ‘critical’ in leisure were read and analyzed through critical discourse analysis and political discourse analysis. The analysis resulted in a historiography that articulates four key alternative or counter traditions: Critical Leisure Studies; New Leisure; Post-Leisure Studies; and Anti-Leisure, which could aid leisure studies into taking on a role as a ‘new’ cultural studies.

5-CONCEPTIONS of Leisure : A Historical Approach on Societies

2013

Introduction Leisure has been the focus of countless studies on contemporary society. This is due mostly to the strong correlation among leisure activities and quality of life and the social development of individuals. Although it is impossible to precisely foresee the starting point of concerning about leisure activities, it is known that those have accompanied man ever since the beginning of humankind. Although leisure has been the focus of studies in different areas, it should be studied from the precept that man is a biophysicosocial being, and his biological, psychological and sociological characteristics cannot be dissociated. An investigation concerning leisure can reveal several characteristics that show the social and cultural context of a society. Eventually leisure is conceived as a synonym of free time, nevertheless, such proposition is not true. Leisure activities are practiced during free time, but free time is not completely fulfilled with activities characterized as ...

Leisure and culture – the (in)visible link in modern societies

World Leisure Journal, 2011

Leisure and culture Á the (in)visible link in modern societies Overview: culture and creative leisure Leisure often evokes ideas synonymous with different modes of easy living: entertainment, distraction, sports and relaxation, including tourism. As the antithesis of labour, leisure is thus often perceived as a time of luxury, idleness and inefficiency. But, although powerful, this view that free time is time lost may not be accurate. Many thinkers have insisted on the idea that leisure, authentic leisure, is time dedicated to developing one's capacities, a time of learning and cultivation. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, ''Leisure is time for doing something useful'' (Franklin, 1758). A life dedicated solely to work would not be a decent human life Á this is implicit in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, in its Article 28, that ''Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits'' (United Nations, 1948). In terms of human development, we could say that our bodies need rest, but that our minds need creative leisure. In terms of economic development also, equating leisure with inefficiency is questionable. Economic success is often associated with striking the right balance in the division of labour, that is production; but consumption mostly happens when people are not working, that is when they participate in the life of their cultures. In that, leisure can be credited with giving a boost to creativity, innovation and related synergies. Thus, contrary to commonly held views, leisure is a special feature of culture, be it individualised or organised. As culture determines our lifestyles, our consumption and our production patterns, we need to realise that the culture of creative leisure includes tourism, travel and vacation, fashion and dressing, eating, epicurean pleasures and hospitality, sports, reading, museums and exhibitions, media and the visual arts, concerts, opera and music. Building on this, we can give a quick account of how the leisure-culture link positively relates to different approaches to development.

A People's History of Leisure Studies: Leisure, the Tool of Racecraft

Leisure Sciences, 2019

The pernicious existence of race serves as the underlying force in modern societies. As such, the aim of this discussion is to postulate that leisure is a tool of racecraft: 1) the articulation of power, 2) the erection of places of demarcation, and 3) reification of the racial order. What is presented here is in one part a re-examination of seminal texts on Race in leisure studies and another part a case study of the 1919 Chicago race riots and the Biloxi wade-ins from 1959 to 1963. Both of these historical cases illustrate the simple act of recreational swimming in legally or socially segregated waters and pools outraged the White social order in the United States. This history is mirrored in the present day, not as another isolated horrible aside that arises from time-to-time in leisure but rather as the seemingly perpetual role of leisure to maintain the proper racial order, racecraft.

Recreation in the Renaissance: Attitudes towards Leisure and Pastimes in European Culture, 1425-1675

2003

"During the European Renaissance, the idea that human beings need periodical rest from their ordinary occupations became commonplace. Medical writing justified a variety of physical activities as beneficial to the preservation of health. Under the influence of Aristotle, moral literature coined the notion of the art of amusing oneself and one's interlocutors, by keeping the mean between excessive laughter and excessive seriousness. Christian writers produced their own categories, by which many pastimes could be disapproved of. Italy hosted a school of legal writing on games, mainly concerned with gambling. The legal discourse was not dominated by prohibitions - because political power could find reasons for tolerating or even promoting some forms of recreation. Social hierarchy, gender and age clearly affected the ways in which specific pastimes were practised and perceived. Thus, leisure existed and mattered well before the Industrial Revolution: its theory and practice significantly shaped an epoch and its self-image. List of Figures Preface PART 1: INTRODUCTION Games and Leisure between history and social theory PART 2: THE NEED FOR RECREATION Paradise Lost A saint, an archer and his bow (story of an exemplum) A right to be idle? PART 3: THE MEDICAL DISCOURSE Motion and rest Ancient and modern forms of exercise 'The manner of governing health' Amor et alea PART 4: THE MORAL DISCOURSE Reason versus Joy A virtue to remember A view from Paris Games without a chance Juego(s) A time for play? PART 5: GAMES AND LAW Ius commune De ludo Panem et circenses The regulation of extravagance PART 6: VARIETIES OF PASTIMES Leisure and social hierarchy Plaisirs des dames Children's games Medieval and Renaissance taxonomies PART 7: CONCLUSION Appendix: the European Vocabulary of Recreation Notes Bibliography Index"

Leisure as a Category of Culture, Philosophy and Recreation

Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research, 2010

Leisure as a Category of Culture, Philosophy and RecreationWhen we look at the very origins of human world, civilization in its history and prehistory, we can trace strong evidence of the archaic presence of leisure in human life. It seems striking and meaningful that in fact all that is human streams out from leisure. Leisure occurs to be an arch-human phenomenon. This paper addresses this multidimensional cultural presence and the sense and value of leisure conceived as a source of civilization, symbolic thought, social institutions, habits and practices. The cultural primordiality of leisure is evident when we take into consideration an aboriginal release from total preoccupation with only impulsive and instinctual survival activities that took place in the era of Homo habilis some 2 millions years ago. It is obvious that free time was a great achievement of these evolutionary forms of human beings when we reflect upon the earliest seeds of consciousness expressed in primitive pe...