The End of (Objective) Leisure

Abstract

This paper examines the ontological and epistemological assumptions about leisure to critically assess the state of leisure scholarship. It argues that there are no intrinsic characteristics or essences inherent to leisure, and that researchers ought to make an important distinction between leisure as socially constructed social facts, and the erroneous view of leisure as an ontologically objective and universal entity. It is purported that from an epistemological standpoint the crisis of leisure sciences has never been resolved; however, the absence of a stable theory is an opportunity for new forms of research and knowledge to emerge. The article introduces postleisure as a departure from leisure-objectivism and a shift towards plural readings of leisure, which may find sufficient backbone in Rorty’s notion of epistemological solidarity.