The social circles of leisure: Competing explanations

Journal of Leisure Research

Volumn 41, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 313-335

  Burch, William R ^a  

^a YALE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FUTURE PROSPECT; LEISURE INDUSTRY; THEORETICAL STUDY;

EID: 70349312488     PISSN: 00222216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00222216.2009.11950176     Document Type: Article

References (34)

1. Leisure is that aspect of life which, in contrast to labor or work, permits one to have a relatively greater range of activity options. This does not mean that leisure is free of normative constraint, but rather that less formal, less bureaucratic constraints operate. It is the discovery of the operation and nature of these informal constraints which should occupy the sociologist. We are also aware of the aristocratic definition of leisure used by deGrazia, Arendt and others, and of the neat separation of play, recreation, and diversion from the hallow sanctity of leisure. However, for the purposes of this paper, leisure as "choosing time" seems a useful general definition which includes play, recreation, and diversion. Some definitions of leisure may be found in: Clawson, Marion. "How Much Leisure, Now and in the Future?," Leisure in America: Blessing or Curse? Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, April, 1964, p. 16.
2. DeGrazia, Sebastian. Of Time, Work and Leisure. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1962, pp. 233-235.
3. Burch, Jr., William R. and Taves, Marvin J. "Changing Functions of Recreation in Human Society," Outdoor Recreation in the Upper Great Lakes Area. Station Paper No. 89. St. Paul: Lake States Forest Experiment Station, August, 1961, pp. 8-16.
4. Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company, Inc. 1959.
5. In the Survey Research Center's national survey, a multivariate analysis of the data found "significant" association between level of outdoor recreation activity and such factors as sex, age, race, religion, place of residence, education of head of household, income and life cycle. However, they suggest that "Taken together these factors account for approximately 30 percent of the variance in the measure of outdoor recreation activity," a finding which suggests that the standard variables do not provide a very high level of prediction about leisure behavior. Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission Study Report No. 20, p. 69.
6. As Phillip H. Ennis suggests, leisure occupies a peculiar place in our society. To paraphrase his argument: (1) unlike work, church, or politics, leisure is not contained in any particular area but invades all; (2) leisure time has the capacity to fulfill a variety of functions for the individual; however, there is no hierarchial valuation among the possible uses of one's free time that has community consensus . . . there is an 'unpriced cafeteria selection' quality to leisure; (3) leisure is normatively indefinite, an individual matter. The consequences of not going to work are fairly clear; what are the consequences of say, switching off the T.V.? In Dorbriner, William (ed). The Suburban Community. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1958, p. 258.
7. Havinghurst, Robert J. "The Leisure Activities of the Middle-Aged," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. LXII (September, 1957), pp. 159-162.
8. Wenger, Jr., Wiley D. "A Test of Unmanned Registration Stations on Wilderness Trails: Factors Influencing Effectiveness." U.S. Forest Research Paper PNW-16, 1964.
9. Wenger, Jr., and Gregersen, Hans Miller. "The Effect of Nonresponse on Representativeness of Wilderness Trail Register Information." U.S. Forest Service Research Paper PNW-17, 1964. These studies by Wenger and Gregersen offer a farily complete census of the Three Sisters Wilderness Area. They found that 76.8 percent of the users registered at stations placed on all trails into the area. Further, the bulk of the non-registrants were horsemen and solitary fishermen, two groups which are less relevant to the interests of the present study.
10. Burch, Jr., William R. and Wenger, Jr., Wiley D. "The Social Characteristics of Participants in Three Styles of Family Camping." U.S. Forest Service Research Paper PNW-48, 1967. This study found that 87.5 percent of combination campers, 95.1 percent of remote campers, and 87.6 percent of easy access campers were Oregon residents.
11. For detailed discussion see: Burch, Jr., William R. Nature as Symbol and Expression in American Social Life. (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1964.)
12. Schiller, Friedrich. Essays Aesthetical and Philosophical. London: Bell, 1875.
13. Spencer, Herbert The Principles of Psychology. Vol. I. London: William and Norgate, 1870. Especially pages 79-86.
14. Groos, Karl. The Play of Man. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1901, p. 367.
15. We should also mention the undoubted influence of W. I. Thomas' four wishes, one of which was "new experience" and another was "security." Thomas, W. I. with Znaniecki, Florian. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. Vol. I. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1918-20, p. 73.
16. Wilensky, Harold L. "Work, Careers and Social Integration," International Journal of Social Science, Vol. XII (1960), p. 544.
17. Green, Arnold W. Recreation, Leisure and Politics. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1964.
18. Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. Wilderness and Recreation - A Report on Resources, Values, and Problems. Study Report No. 3. Washington, D.C.: Wildland Research Center, University of California, 1962, p. 136. It should be noted that wilderness campers as studied by ORRRC are contained within the categories of combination and remote campers as used in this study.
19. For example see Munn, Norman. Psychology: The Fundamentals of Human Adjustment. 3rd Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1956, p. 105.
20. Also Newcomb, Theodore M.; Turner, Ralph H. and Converse, Philip E. Social Psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1965, p. 77.
21. Murphy, Gardner. "Social Motivation," Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. XI. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1954, pp. 611-612. Some aspects of the new theory of cognitive dissonance seem to fit the way the term "familiarity" is used in this study. The individual, when confronted with a relatively unattainable desire, tends to confer upon his present routines a high degree of satisfaction, thereby minimizing dissonance.
22. See Brehm, Jack W. and Cohen, Arthur R. Explorations in Cognitive Dissonances. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1962.
23. Charlesworth, James C. "A Comprehensive Plan for the Wise Use of Leisure," Leisure in America: Blessing or Curse? Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, April, 1964, p. 32.
24. Etzkorn, K. Peter. "Leisure and Camping: The Social Meaning of a Form of Public Recreation," Sociology and Social Research, Vol. XLIX (October, 1964), p. 83.
25. These status categories of husband's occupation were determined in the following manner: professional, technical and kindred workers used the standard census classification. Upper-non-manual were managers, officials, large-scale proprietors, farm managers and owners. Members of this category were sifted from the respondents who seemed to fit the classification, i.e., where the total family income before taxes indicated that such placement was reasonable (a minimum income of $7,600 was necessary), or when a firm's net worth in excess of $40,000 verified the classification. Owners of Dairy Queens, small stores and shops, gas stations and others were not classified as upper-non-manual. If respondents gave such titles as sales manager, manufacturer and others, and if income or business value so indicated, they were placed in the upper-non-manual group. Middle-non-manual were those in sales, clerical and similar work, and proprietors of small shops. Middle-manual were craftsmen and foremen, skilled operatives and members of the higher services such as beauty operators, barbers, auto mechanics, carpenters, painters and others. Lower-manual were operatives, unskilled labor and members of lower services such as janitors, gas station attendants, household servants, timber cruisers and others. Farmers were those who did not specify type of farming or when the farming operation was not sufficiently determinable to place the respondent in the upper-non-manual. As it turned out, all those who listed as owning or running a ranch or farm were placed in the farmer category. In general, the few farmers encountered in this study were owners or operators of fairly small family farms.
26. GerstL Joel F. "Career Commitment and Style of Life in Three Middle Class Occupations." (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1959.)
27. Gerstl Joel F., "Leisure, Taste and Occupational Milieu," Social Problems, Vol. XIX (Summer, 1961), pp. 56-68.
28. There were a considerable number of occupations classed as professional by the Census Bureau which were not uncovered in this sample. There were no actors, airplane pilots, architects, athletes, chiropractors, designers, entertainers, pharmacists, public relations men, veterinarians, nurses, among others. Future research may well find it useful to concentrate upon specific types of occupations associated with leisure style.
29. For futher discussion of the value divergence between campers with technical and intellectual occupations see Burch, Jr., William R. Nature as Symbol and Expression in American Social Life. Chapters 8-9. (Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota, 1964.)
30. This term is discussed in Henry, Jules. "The Personal Community and Its Invariant Properties," American Anthropologist, Vol. LX (October, 1958), p. 827.
31. There is some evidence that "value" loyalties provide the best link of continuity between generations in the family. The children, upon assuming adult responsibility, may express deviation from the parents' consumption patterns: However, religious values, and perhaps highly involving leisure values, are retained.
32. See: Aldous, Joan and Hill, Reuben. "Family Continuities Through Socialization Over Three Generations." Paper presented to A. S. A. Annual Meetings on August 28, 1963 in Los Angeles. These writers found that the greatest generational loyalty was to "value" affiliations such as religion. "Almost two thirds of their sample maintained the same religious affiliation over three generations," p. 10. In their interviews and written comments, many of the campers in my sample expressed attitudes toward nature and camping which are best described as religious. See also Burch, (Note 6), Chapter 9, "Commitment and Involvement in a Play Role," pp. 374-436.
33. Stone, Gregory P. "Some Meanings of American Sport," Columbus, Ohio: College Physical Education Association 60th Annual Meeting, 1951, pp. 6-29. (Mimco)
34. For an analysis of the influence which state of family life cycle has upon leisure style See: Burch, Jr., William R. "Wilderness - The Life Cycle and Forest Recreational Choice," Journal of Forestry, Vol. LXIV (September, 1966), pp. 606-610.