Leisure Flashcards
T - Functions of leisure (F)
- reject class/gender as shaping participation -> pluralistic capitalist viewpoint -> consumer controls and pursues own interests
- company makes money if consumer buys
- leisure pursuits come/go due to changing nature of consumer demand eg loom bands
- state intervenes to police leisure market/increase choice, not restrict eg preserve national parks
T - Roberts (F)
- consolidates social system -> strengthen, clear diff between groups
- safety valve for wider social system by easing stress
- imprints values -> fair play, teamwork, leadership eg sports
- opportunity to develop skills - leisure/work are linked
- compensates for unrewarding parts of life if job leads to alienation
- publicly funded leisure/sports provision -> helps economically disadvtgd eg children with limited recreation opps
T - Criticisms of Roberts (F)
CLARKE/CRITCHER
- large corporations have power to influence consumer needs
- leisure in industry -> new products -> persuade to purchase
- patterns of participation aren’t outcomes of individual choice, it is organised around subcultures (CAGE), so opps are unequally structured culturally/materially
T - Leisure and work (F)
GROSS
- work is ‘free time’, gives someone the right to leisure
- work is instrumental/compulsory, leisure is expressive/voluntary
- both maintain culture/role in socialisation into cultural traditions - learn rules
- skills acquired -> maintains social system
- leisure = tension management -> restore sense of self after stress at work
- opportunity to join voluntary assoc -> maintain instrumental values
- opp for group activities -> group solidarity -> integration function of social system
PARKER - Criticises this - says that instead, it is fusion (they’re the same) or polarity (they are different)
T - Patterns of Leisure (F)
PARKER
- developed as reaction to experience at work
1. Extension pattern - cont work life into leisure eg docs read med journals
2. Opposition pattern - develop leisure clearly different eg miners’ is group based as work is noisy
Criticisms
- falls into Functionalist trap - undervalues role in making independent choices, ignores that it may be rooted in pleasure/desire, not determined by paid work
- ignores children, elderly and no mention of women’s leisure
T - Marxism
CLARKE AND CRITCHER
- capitalist system shapes nature of work/leisure
- pre ind rev -> no division between them
- ind rev + capitalism -> no opp for leisure -> now clear line between them
- capitalist enterprises -> easy influence on leisure -> licences activities
- leisure becoming subjected to increasing capitalisation -> loses elements of freedom/choice, becomes like paid work
- class structure determines shape of activities
- state constructs leisure - turns into form of consumption
- society accepts rhetoric of consumer choice - hides power relationships
- 19th century -WC restricted on use of public space - MC put pressure on state to control use for WC interaction eg kids playing on streets = disruptive
- UC is numerically small but powerful
- MC leisure more private eg gardening, individualistic
- WC - social eg pub footie teams, pool
T- Feminism
- patriarchy is a barrier to female participation in leisure
- activities seen as inappropriate for women
- patriarchy prescribes activities as suitable for men - demonstrate masculinity
WALBY - public/private masculinity - diff levels of importance for diff women, diff times, diff places
M - Decentring leisure
ROJEK
- leisure isn’t separate to other experiences
- now only has meaning in specific society
- modern society - freedom from work/ed
- postmod - distinction confused, less clear purpose, overlaps with other aspects
eg Modern -> age is central for age appropriate things
Post modern -> assumptions no longer apply
- changes are +ve - modern leisure promised more than it can deliver eg freedom, satisfaction -> deceived
- postmodernism -> lower expectations -> satisfaction
CRITICISMS
- exaggerates and simplifies changes
- contradicts himself - says they’re not different, no clear distinction but then gives examples of how they are different
M - Tourist Gaze
URRY
- tourism = temp travel away from work to ‘gaze’ at somewhere different
- participate in normal economic activity eg buying food, but not primary reason for visiting
- it’s about semiology - images socially constructed by the media
LASH AND URRY
Collective Gaze -:> large number of tourists -> atmosphere -> confirms validity of activity
Romantic Gaze -> absence of people is necessary, focus on solitude, privacy, seek semi-spiritual relationship with object they’re gazing upon
M - Post tourism
URRY
- modernity = collective –> romantic gaze
- postmod contd trend
- move attention to countryside - contrasts artificial urban setting of everyday life
- tourists retreat from present eg 1990 464 industrial heritage museums in UK alone
- PM breaks down boundaries between frontstage/backstage -> people now interested in private life eg royal family
- dedifferentiation -> weakening distinction between high/low culture - adverts seen as art
- rationalisation -> all familiar with distant objects of tourist gaze through media reps
- postmod tourists -> aware that ‘authentic’ experiences are staged eg Mini Eiffel Towers (kitsch)
- cities set up anti-tourist attractions eg most boring bits of Sydney
Criticism - Trend is growing but recognises people still enjoy package hols to mass market destinations
M - Scraton and Bramham
- leisure is a product of modernity
- fills free time of workers with acceptable activites/relaxations
- designed to be rational/recuperative -> self improvement/recovery
- change after WW2 into PM leisure
Modern -> based on organisations, large groups, class based
Postmodern -> individuals, self-indulgent, individualistic