Abstract
This paper examines how the leisure of young people in Western Europe has changed since the 1950s. It considers the effects of the extension of the youth life stage, the shift into a post-industrial era, and the steep increases in leisure spending that have occurred. The paper considers the ways in which youth cul- tures have now become milieu where social relationships and divi- sions are changed rather than reproduced, argues that this is most plausible in relation to gender, for some but not all ethnic divisions, and wholly implausible in relation to social class. It is argued that class differences in childhood leisure socialisation which result in the acquisition of different amounts and types of cultural capital, plus the social relationships formed among social equals, enable class differences to be maintained throughout the youth life stage even though young people on most social class trajectories share much leisure in common.
Highlights
Childhood and youth are of special interest to leisure researchers because these are the life stages when individuals build-up stocks of leisure capital - skills, tastes and interests on which they base the rest of their leisure lives
Leisure is of interest to sociologists of youth primarily for what is can reveal about social divisions: for example, whether class, gender and ethnic divisions are the basis for distinctive youth cultures and lifestyles that unify those inside while deepening their separation from others
Some youth sociologists contend that present-day young people’s leisure is eroding traditional social divisions which are being replaced by divisions and identities based on leisure styles, and suggest that these identities may be retained throughout post-modern adulthoods
Summary
RESUMEN: Este artículo examina cómo ha cambiado el ocio de los jóvenes en Europa occidental desde los años 50. Considera los efectos de la extensión de la etapa vital de la juventud, el ingreso en una era post-industrial y el notable aumento del gasto en ocio. Se aduce que las diferencias de clase en la socialización del ocio durante la infancia, que resultan en la adquisición de diferentes cantidades y tipos de capital cultural, junto a las relaciones sociales formadas entre pares sociales, permiten que las diferencias de clase se mantengan a lo largo de la etapa vital de la juventud, incluso aunque los jóvenes en la mayoría de trayectorias de clase compartan gran parte de su ocio. PALABRAS CLAVE: Capital cultural; ocio; post-industrialismo; capital social; juventud
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