Leisure

This third edition of Leisure is a textbook for students of leisure and recreation studies. It opens with the historical and philosophical roots of the field, then approaches leisure through several disciplines at once, drawing on psychology, sociology, economics, geography and anthropology to prompt debate. Recent research and statistics on different leisure activities appear alongside qualitative findings and case studies that examine what leisure means to people and how they orient themselves toward it.

The book surveys many specific areas of leisure. Chapters cover sport, education, travel and tourism, commercial leisure services, popular culture, mass media, the arts, outdoor recreation and public recreation provision. Several broader questions receive particular attention: how leisure relates to work, how it changes across the life course, what freedom means in leisure, and what leisure might look like in the future.

This revision adds two new chapters responding to developments in the field, one on leisure in a diverse society and one on politics and leisure.