Field Of Leisure Studies Research Articles

Prospering without processing: therapeutic recreation without a therapist

ABSTRACT This critical essay seeks to liberate the concept of ‘therapeutic’ from recreation therapy/therapeutic recreation (RT/TR) for the broader field of leisure studies, as well as to demonstrate that ‘processing’ often happens for individuals in any recreation activity, without the direction of an expert or professional therapist. The two main issues addressed in this essay are what makes a recreation activity ‘therapeutic,’ and whether it is necessary to have a recreation therapist help the recreationist or client ‘process’ what transpires and its broader value to their life.

Flying high and breaking stigma: a social identity perspective on Chinese frisbee participants

ABSTRACT The growing popularity of frisbee sport in China has brought both recognition and stigmatisation. Rooted in the social identity perspective, this study employs in-depth interviews and participatory observation to explore this phenomenon, creating a multifaceted analytical framework that includes affective commitment, self-categorisation, group self-esteem and self-expansion. The study finds that the primary manifestations of frisbee stigmatisation encompass the heightened online attention and scrutiny, conflicts due to limited playing venues, misconceptions from one-sided sport perceptions, and controversies around its use for blind dates. Moreover, the study reveals that frisbee community members employ diverse strategies to counteract stigma, such as positive confrontation, ignoring or humorously resolving stigmatisation, selective online self-presentation, and converting opponents into supporters. This research contributes to the field of leisure studies by offering a deeper understanding of how leisure sports identities are negotiated in the context of societal prejudices. Furthermore, it provides practical insights for fostering resilience, promoting a positive sports culture, and encouraging a healthier approach to leisure sports among youth, potentially minimising the negative impact of stigma on emerging leisure sports activities.

Effects of transformative tourism activity on the mitigation of menopause symptoms and life satisfaction

AbstractThis study aims to determine whether five tourism activities have an impact on menopausal symptom relief and life satisfaction. This study surveyed 278 menopausal women experiencing menopausal symptoms, and after excluding two nonresponses, 276 responses were used in the final analysis. This study used confirmatory factor analysis to verify the validity of the measurement instruments and the fit of the research model. The results provided empirical evidence that cultural tourism, wellness tourism, sports tourism, and shopping tourism, except food tourism, have a positive impact on menopausal symptom relief and life satisfaction. This study successfully established a meaningful conceptual framework to understand the tourism activities that can lead to menopausal symptom relief and life satisfaction among menopausal women, beyond the existing literature that has only been studied in the field of leisure studies for middle‐aged and older adults.

Leisure and the Anthropocene—Special Issue Introduction

The Anthropocene, introduced by scientists in 2000 to name the current geological epoch, draws attention to the scale and force of anthropogenic impacts on Earth systems. With this special issue, we aim to inspire and assemble scholarship that has an intentional focus on understanding, critiquing, and (re)imagining relationships between leisure and the Anthropocene. More specifically, we have invited contributing authors to explore questions such as: how is the field of leisure studies grappling with global ecological crises? How does leisure matter in the Anthropocene? How has leisure been complicit in producing the Anthropocene? How might leisure help heal, or inflict further damage to, human and more-than-human relations within planetary systems? This article introduces the special issue by presenting brief background information for readers and illuminating three cross-cutting themes within the special issue manuscripts, namely: (a) times, temporalities, and rhythms; (b) ethical relationships and responsibilities; and (c) “new” sensibilities.

Leisure Ex Machina: The Leisure Lives of Digital Minds

Humans may soon succeed in the creation of sentient artificial intelligence (SAI) that experiences human-like consciousness. Such SAI would have a claim to the same rights and moral considerations afforded to biological humans, including a right to leisure. Particular to this special issue, I explore the implications of such a development from the context of leisure studies; specifically, I apply utilitarian moral theory and the concept of a “utility monster,” as an analytical framework to consider the potential for SAI to degrade the wellbeing of humans and non-human animals through their leisure experiences. Throughout this essay, my overarching goal is to provide a thought provoking argument that serves as the context for fruitful reflection and discussion in the field of leisure studies. Due to their potentially superhuman efficiency in deriving benefits (“utility”) from experiences, SAI may become a “utility monster,” or a being with superior moral claim to scarce resources. As SAI will (a) likely be “human-like,” and (b) exist independent of the physiological needs/limits inherent to biological humans, it is likely that a large proportion of the experiences chosen by SAI would be categorizable as leisure. Following a utilitarian logic that the only morally acceptable action is the one that raises net utility by the greatest amount, other beings would be morally compelled to transfer all available resources to satisfy the leisure preferences of the SAI utility monster. I examine the implications of this moral quandary for leisure studies and wider society, and discuss three potential paths forward: total transfer of resources to a leisure-focused SAI utility monster; strict limits on the development of SAI; and a middle path where the interests of SAI and humans align. Although the topic of artificial intelligence is increasingly relevant in discussions within our broader society, and specific to the field of leisure studies, to date that conversation has largely focused on how technological advances in artificial intelligence will impact humans, and how that technology can be used in an ethical fashion; this essay refocuses the conversation to the implications for a potential SAI that may look and feel very much like we do.

Post-pandemic outdoor music festival consumption behaviour intention: an integrative approach

ABSTRACT This study investigates the factors influencing consumption behaviour at outdoor music festivals in the post-pandemic era. Utilising the Stimuli-Organism-Response and Motivation-Opportunity-Ability theories, the study explores the factors affecting consumer behaviour intention in the context of outdoor music festivals. Employing structural equation modelling and necessary condition analysis, the research reveals that consumption motivation, opportunity, ability, and perceived scarcity significantly impact consumption behaviour intention in a positive manner. Conversely, perceived risk inhibits this intention. Notably, post-pandemic music festival attendees, particularly young individuals with income, exhibit a strong propensity to consume. Consumption motivation, opportunity, and ability are identified as direct and positive drivers of consumption behaviour intention, representing necessary conditions. Perceived scarcity mediates the relationships between consumption motivation, opportunity, ability, and the intention to participate in outdoor music festival consumption behaviour. The study sheds light on the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, emphasising its contribution to the field of leisure studies.

Sociology as the foundation of leisure studies: A critical analysis

Sociology has been identified in the extant literature as the foundation upon which leisure studies has been based. This paper assesses the validity of this claim. It does so by examining the departmental affiliation of the authors who have published in the double-blind peer-reviewed journals in the leisure studies field. Analysis of the data suggests that in the early years of the journals, in the early 1970s, sociologists represented a large component of the authors of the published articles. However, the presence of authors based in sociology departments rapidly declined thereafter. Overall, the results highlighted in this paper question the idea that sociology is the foundation of leisure studies while identifying those situated in sociology departments as a strong component of the authors publishing in the early years of the field’s journals, albeit one that has declined since then.

The relationship of diverse leisure activities with flourishing.

The relationship between leisure and wellbeing is of great interest in the field of leisure studies. Keyes (2002) developed a typology of flourishing vs. languishing that encompasses subjective, psychological, and social wellbeing and is linked with physical health and functioning. However, little research has been done to show how participation in various forms of leisure might be associated with this flourishing typology. Drawing on data from community data with over 5,000 adult participants, we assessed how leisure is associated with a flourishing typology. For the present analyses, we focus on scales that assessed social leisure (e.g., socializing with friends), cultural leisure (e.g., festival attendance), home-based leisure (e.g., reading books for pleasure), physically active leisure (e.g., moderate or vigorous), and media-based leisure (e.g., time spent playing computer games or watching TV). A flourishing typology was constructed from single-item ratings on life satisfaction (subjective wellbeing), psychological well-being (self-perceptions that one's life activities are worthwhile), and social wellbeing (sense of belonging). Flourishing was linked to greater participation in cultural, social, home-based, and physically active leisure. Greater time spent playing computer games and watching TV was associated with languishing. Thus, certain forms of leisure reflect flourishing and others are linked with languishing. The nature of these associations remains to be explored, in particular, whether leisure contributes to flourishing or if flourishing facilitates certain forms of leisure participation.

“To call my own”: migrant women, nature-based leisure and emotional release after divorce in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT For women who migrated for marriage, life after divorce may be characterised by disappointment, sorrow, and despair. Yet, leisure activities can transform their lives and emotions after separation. Using detailed case studies of five migrant women who experienced divorce in Hong Kong, this article examines how leisure with and within green and blue spaces can release negative emotions generated by this difficult life event while also creating opportunities for new ones, such as pleasure and joy, to emerge. It finds that these women’s chosen forms of nature-based leisure were highly embodied, with sight, smell, taste, and movement key to their emotional and personal transformations. In some cases, these experiences even led to the development of strong, kin-like, affective connections with natural objects. Overall, this article highlights the benefits of considering the role of leisure in and with nature for divorcees and divorced migrant women in particular – a group who are under-researched within the field of leisure studies.

Leisure and human rights: a sociological perspective on the World Leisure Organisation’s Charter for Leisure

ABSTRACT The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declared leisure time and cultural participation to be human rights, but the idea of leisure rights has not featured significantly in the field of leisure studies, including the sociology of leisure. The recent revision of the World Leisure Organisation’s Charter for Leisure provides an opportunity to reconsider this omission. The article comprises five main sections: an introduction to the place of leisure in the UDHR and related treaties; an overview of the disciplinary contexts within which human rights have traditionally been conceptualized; an outline of the United Nations human rights system in international law and the obligations it places on member states; the WLO Charter for Leisure revision process and how it sought to align the charter more closely with the UN system; and a sociological perspective on the link between human rights and the study of leisure.

Leisure Studies Association Annual Conference 2021. Leisure identities, health and wellbeing: conference review

ABSTRACT The Leisure Studies Association Annual Conference 2021 brought together scholars and practitioners from several disciplines to discuss leisure, health, and wellness, and the significance of leisure in creating a more equitable world. Alongside these main themes, oral presentations related to other areas of leisure were also included. Across the three-day online conference, there were 70 presentations from delegates across sixteen countries. These presentations, plus the panel session and keynotes, made a significant contribution to the leisure studies field. The conference was successful in terms of sharing research and expertise, generating discussion, dialogue, and debate, and considering future research collaborations.

Leisure seen differently: conclusion to the special issue on ‘Finding truth in fiction’

Most scholars in academia, and certainly those in the field of leisure studies, consider themselves to be empiricists: what we know is derived from what we see firsthand, whether it be through obse...

Implications of the Great Recession for Higher Education in Leisure Studies

Although students in the broad field of leisure studies may pursue a variety of opportunities post-graduation, employment within local parks and recreation represents one potential career path. Unfortunately, the Great Recession disproportionately impacted local parks and recreation relative to competing public services. As such, this article examines the implications of the Great Recession for higher education in leisure studies. To do so, we first present data from the pre- and post-recession periods that illustrate (a) a shift toward a part-time labor force in local park and recreation service delivery; (b) the failure of local parks and recreation to keep pace with other local services in terms of part-time wages; and (c) a rise in private sector employment in the arts, entertainment, and recreation. We conclude by contextualizing the current analysis in terms of previous discussions of the state and future of leisure studies.

El ocio abigarrado: una propuesta para la lectura del campo desde la diferencia

O documento apresentado é baseado nos resultados de uma investigação que foi realizada a partir de uma pesquisa documental qualitativa, com o objetivo de fornecer algumas referências que permitissem a outros pontos de vista, além das referências totalizadoras, no campo dos estudos do lazer, reconhecer a complexidade como condição constitutiva de nossas sociedades. América Latina. O lazer heterogêneo, então, como uma alternativa para lidar com a condição de heterogeneidade constitutiva de nossa região.

Integration of Work and Leisure in the Performance of Spoken Word Poetry in Kenya

Spoken word poetry, an emerging genre in Kenyan literature, is popular among the urban population. The performance of this creative work draws audience from different socio-economic backgrounds who view it as a source of entertainment. Majority of these poets begin off by staging performances in order to exercise their talents and entertain their audience without financial gain. However, once they get the desired popularity, their interests change and they begin to view the performance of spoken word poetry as an alternative source of income. It is against this background that this paper seeks to explore the relationship between work and leisure in the performance of spoken word poetry in Kenya. Scholars in the field of leisure studies are constantly seeking the relationship between work and leisure. This research seeks to examine the representation of labour and leisure in the creative industry of spoken word poetry in Kenya. The study explores the characteristics of work and leisure to determine the leisure/work relationship in the performance of spoken word poetry in Kenyan literature.

Digital Leisure in Later Life: Facebook Use among Romanian Senior Citizens

Set against a double background, the sociology of ageing and the digital sociology, and using concepts and theories from the field of leisure studies, the present study approached Romanian elderly (60+) users of Facebook in an exploratory qualitative research, combining content analysis, interviews and participative observation. The main objectives are to explore the elderly online behaviour in terms of preferences, distributed content, as well as motivations, perceived benefits and challenges related to their online life, and also to investigate the connection between their digital selves and their offline identities. The paper also discusses the measure in which social media is understood by Romanian senior citizens as a digital leisure, beyond the instrumental role of connecting the lonely elders with their families and friends. The study reveals the tension between the attraction that Facebook exerts on Romanian seniors and the anxiety it generates. It highlights also that for Romanian elders, Facebook provides a fragile digital leisure, as they see their time spent on the social network as rather shallow and hedonistic. Moreover, seeing Facebook as a territory dominated by younger generations contributes to digital exclusion, sometimes along with a feeling of inadequacy and vulnerability.

Revised notes from a leisure son: expanding an understanding of White supremacy in leisure

ABSTRACT Within leisure studies, to properly explore and understand ‘Whiteness’ as a cultural process that impacts lived realities it is important to create distance from the oft-used term, White privilege, and begin to grapple with the magnitude of White Supremacy as the fundamental basis for the creation ‘Whiteness’. This critical commentary as a revision to (Mowatt’s [2009]. “Notes From a Leisure son: Expanding an Understanding of Whiteness in Leisure.” Journal of Leisure Research 41 (4): 509–526) ‘Notes of a Leisure Son’ in the Journal of Leisure Research, seeks to hone and advance ‘Whiteness’ studies within leisure studies, and to identify ways that an emancipated field of leisure studies could engage in critical theory and action. It is thought that such a coupling could off-set the impact that ‘Whiteness’ (as an outgrowth of White Supremacy rather than White privilege) has had on the lived realities of populations of colour and racially classified Whites who seek to abandon ‘Whiteness’ as an identity of dominance.

Destruction as Deviant Leisure in EVE Online

In this article, I argue for the inclusion of ‘deviant leisure’—a concept borrowed from the neighboring field of Leisure Studies—to provide Game Studies with a more robust theoretical toolkit to examine negative player-to-player interactions within online gameworlds. As a means of adding additional vocabulary to describe norms violating behavior, this article uses the Massively Multiplayer Online Game EVE Online as a case study to demonstrate how deviant leisure can be an effective framework for unpacking some of the behaviors observed within gameworlds that don’t quite fit into other commonly used categories such as dark play, griefing, trolling, or toxicity. Of particular value for Game Studies, deviant leisure has within it an embedded critique of the social order. In this article, I argue that what is happening in EVE is a rejection of games being coopted by society into becoming an activity that must be productive, and instead via the lens of deviant leisure we can recast these events as a struggle for gameplay to return to leisure for leisure’s sake.

Is there enough leisure time? Leisure studies, work-life balance, the realm of necessity and the realm of freedom

ABSTRACTIn economically advanced countries in recent years, working hours of many full-time employees have been static or increasing and there has been talk of people suffering from a “time squeeze”. Researchers in the field of leisure studies have not featured strongly in debates surrounding this issue, having generally shown little interest in the work-leisure time relationships since the 1970s, being preoccupied instead with leisure activity, meaning and experience. However, calls for reduced working hours have been forthcoming from other sources, such as feminists, economists, critical theorists and environmentalists. In this paper it is proposed that leisure studies scholars re-engage with this issue using the Marxian concepts of the “realm of necessity” and the “realm of freedom” as an analytical device.

Embarking on a Rhetorical Exploration: Accommodating Science (or Not) in Leisure Research

An ongoing debate points to a possible gap between the published research about and the delivery of leisure services. For example, two of the major research journals in the field of leisure studies, Journal of Leisure Research (JLR) and Journal of Parks and Recreation Administration (JPRA), are intended for different audiences, yet researchers are far more likely than practitioners to read both journals. Little empirical research has been conducted to explain the possible reasons for these readership disparities. This exploration utilized rhetorical analysis techniques to examine three matched article sets to determine if the science was accommodated for the distinct intended audiences of the two journals. The findings suggested that the ways in which the research was accommodated for the distinct intended audiences was inconsistent. Significance of the findings and recommendations for future accommodation of science in leisure studies are discussed.