The Experience of Leisure

Abstract

The question of the nature of leisure is a primary, if elusive, question. Quite recently, there has been some considerable interest in approaching the question by understanding leisure as an experience, in contrast to leisure as time, activity, or simple state of mind. This study discusses the methodological difficulties created by the conceptual shift in the leisure sciences. Specifically, the method of descriptive phenomenology is introduced as a suggested way of gaining access to the lived experience of leisure. Both the possibility for and the necessity of taking up the phenomenological standpoint are discussed.

Key words:

• leisure research methodology
• experience of leisure
• phenomenology and leisure sciences
• leisure theory