The Impact of Leisure on Society

Abstract

This paper identifies the long-term consequences of the growth of leisure in modern societies. Up to now, our ‘knowledge’ about the effects of leisure has consisted largely of truisms and ideologically-loaded assertions. It is argued that paying more systematic attention to the ‘effects of leisure, rather than being pre-occupied with how leisure is ‘affected by’, will relocate and enhance the status of leisure studies within the contemporary social sciences. So what are the actual consequences of leisure? It is argued, first, that leisure plays an increasingly important role (positive or negative) in determining levels of physical and psychological well-being; second, that the growth of leisure creates an increasingly prominent class division between leisure workers and high spending consumers; third, that leisure tends to depoliticise populations by offering consumer choice as an alternative to political voice.

Keywords:

• civic participation
• consumerism
• social stratification
• theory
• well-being