Summary
Contents
Subject index
Leisure has always been associated with freedom, choice, and flexibility. The weekend and vacations were celebrated as ‘time off’. In his compelling new book, Chris Rojek turns this shibboleth on its head to demonstrate how leisure has become a form of labor.
Modern men and women are required to be competent, relevant, and credible, not only in the work place but with their mates, children, parents, and communities. The requisite empathy for others, socially acceptable values and correct forms of self-presentation demand work. Much of this work is concentrated in non-work activity, compromising traditional connections between leisure and freedom. Ranging widely from an analysis of the inflated aspirations of the leisure society thesis to the culture of deception that permeates leisure choice, the author shows how leisure is inextricably linked to emotional labor and intelligence. It is now a school for life.
In challenging the orthodox understandings of freedom and free time, The Labour of Leisure sets out an indispensable new approach to the meaning of leisure.
Positioning Leisure
Positioning Leisure
This is the sixth book that I have written on the subject of leisure. Its predecessors are Capitalism and Leisure Theory (1985), Ways of Escape (1993), Decentring Leisure (1995), Leisure and Culture (2000) and Leisure Theory (2005). The books were neither planned nor written as a sextet; nor would I wish them to be read as such. Each can be read as a standalone volume. To a lesser or greater degree all six are concerned to connect leisure forms and practice with cultural and social theory. My purpose is not only to apply social and cultural theory to illuminate leisure forms and practice. I am also concerned to delve into leisure forms and practice, especially the notions of freedom, choice and self-determination, ...
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