Sociological contributions to the study of leisure

Abstract

Until comparatively recently leisure has been treated by social investigators as a ‘problem’. But a number of traditions and specialisms within sociology have contributed to our understanding of leisure. Over the last 50 years community studies have been concerned with issues that continue to be debated today: class and sex inequalities, work and leisure, the role of the media, the effects of the life-cycle. The alleged ‘conventional wisdom’ in leisure sociology has been challenged. However, while the excesses of the survey research method have been criticized, survey results have provided the basis for much theoretical sociological debate.