Before the age of the Industrial Revolution, ‘leisure’ took the form of education and introspection as it had developed within Greece’s male elite. According to this view of leisure, any time not occupied directly with industry and production should be occupied with intellectual thought and consideration. “Leisure was valued as those moments of life in which one contemplated the eternal truths and participated in music and drama” (Torkildsen, 2005: 13). Because of a close connection established between the pursuits of leisure and the functions of the state, common working men, slaves, children, and women, all of whom were considered to have other, more mundane duties to attend to, were excluded from participation in leisure. “What distinguishes the leisure of Ancient Greece from that found anywhere in the history of leisure is the strong connection between leisure and state government” (Torkildsen, 2005: 13). However, with the growth of mechanized industry, a change took place where ‘work’ time was defined according to a clock, redefining non-work time as ‘leisure’. While this worked for a while, women, because they were usually occupied within the home, still had no defined period for leisure. It was only with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the subsequent advances in society that have brought women to a more equal footing with men and all people upon a more equal footing in terms of recreational and leisurely opportunity.
According to McLean (2008), recreation and leisure provide important benefits to the welfare not only of the individual but also of society as a whole. This was recognized even in Ancient Greek society as those individuals engaging in leisure were working out some of the more intellectual and philosophical problems of their world. “Beyond its value as a form of sociability, recreation also provides major personal benefits in terms of meeting physical, emotional, philosophical and other important health-related needs of participants … The very games and sports, entertainment media, and group affiliations that people enjoy in their leisure help to shape the character and well-being of families, communities and society at large” (Kraus, 2008: 1).
As we struggle to define ourselves, in terms of the I, which is the way we think about ourselves, and theme, which is the way we feel others think about us, we develop a sense of self-esteem, how we feel about who we are (Bolender, 2005). This concept of ourselves is balanced by our realistic idea of ourselves, our ideal interpretation of ourselves, our idea of what we ought to be, and our idea of what we don’t want to be. These concepts are all necessarily formed as we interact with others within a free environment in which we can be just who we are rather than attempting to fill some concept of what we should be as in the workplace or other environment. At the same time, how we feel about ourselves, our self-esteem is formed as leisure provides us with the opportunity to be in control of our actions, to accomplish something, and to interact with others. All of this, in turn, helps us cope with the depression, anxiety, and exhaustion that stress introduces into our lives through our work and daily maintenance. Finally, leisure helps to divert our attention away from the causes of our stress, giving us a chance to recharge and reapply when we’re ready.
Unfortunately, as people, men, and women, developed their ideas of leisure activities, the cost of leisure began to rise due to the scientific and technological equipment that is necessary to participate in a given activity. In the field of golf, for example, while the game hasn’t changed significantly, the technology in the production of clubs, balls, and golf club membership for the more challenging courses has continued to rise, limiting the activity somewhat by the level the individual can afford to pay for the privilege of participation. The types of activities that are now considered to be recreation or leisure activities can include a wide array of things such as golf, tennis, baseball, or other outdoor sport; surfing the internet, online games, video games, watching television, or other media-related activities; sewing, painting, crafting or other ‘productive’ activity; reading, researching, philosophizing or other forms of mental effort.
The benefits that can be gained from such widespread activities, which can run the gamut between active and passive, social and solitary, are too numerous to include within a small treatise, but it should be evident that they are immense. However, our concepts of leisure have also come to involve a great deal of expense, forcing us to continue to work extra hard during our ‘off’ hours as a means of earning the additional funds necessary just to keep up with the pace of technology. As a result, leisure is again becoming a missing element of society, not necessarily because of the loss of available time in which to participate, but because of an overall commodification of leisure activities that necessarily exclude the participation of the increasing numbers of poor. While our available time for leisure activities continues to decrease with the increase in the cost of our toys and the decrease in our wages as compared to our living expenses, there remains a significant cause for the preservation of leisure time on a variety of levels. This is being increasingly recognized by government services and agencies struggling to encourage and provide programs for the advancement of these types of activities for the benefit of the individual citizens as well as the country as a whole.
One form of recreation that has been popular for more than 100 years is the sport of golf. On the golf course, individuals are allowed to take a stroll around carefully manicured lawns while still having a purposeful objective in mind. Originally considered a sport for gentlemen only, this definition has changed much as the definition of leisure has changed over the years and the sport is now open to individuals of all races, genders, and ages. It provides the health of an outdoor activity combined with the flexibility required for the young and the elderly, making it available as a family activity as well as a solitary activity. While the sport can become quite expensive if one chooses to purchase the best in clubs and other equipment and elects to participate in membership golf resorts, this is not necessary for the enjoyment of the sport. More and more cities now offer public golf courses on which anyone can play a round of 18 holes at an affordable price. In addition, driving ranges are often available for public use at even lower rates. Although golf can be a solitary sport, it also has a high social contingent as players pair up or gathers together at the club after play. Golf clubs often offer a variety of other services as well, including restaurants for dining, spa treatments, and pro shops in which the latest equipment might be purchased.
Leisure is undoubtedly an important element in living a healthy and happy lifestyle. This is true because it allows us to relax from the daily stresses of our working lives and provides us with the quiet time necessary to consider where we’ve been and what we want to do next. We are provided with a chance to achieve something strictly for our enjoyment and to place our measuring stick upon the achievement – are we playing for proficiency, improvement, or just to spend the morning hours doing something meaningless and yet still engaging. A society capable of relaxing away from the stresses of maintaining a hectic production schedule while also being able to socialize with others and conceive of dreams and goals for future life is a healthy society. Without leisure time, this would not be the case.
References
Bolender, Ron. “George Herbert Mead.” (2005). Web.
McLean, Daniel D.; Amy R. Hurd & Nancy Rogers. Kraus’ Recreation and Leisure in Modern Society. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2008.
Torkildsen, George. Leisure and Recreation Management. New York: Routledge, 2005.