Leisure

Abstract

Leisure is an important component of most people's lives and is fundamental to QUALITY OF LIFE concerns. Viewed holistically, leisure brings a degree of balance to spirit, mind, and body, is critical to personal development, and is perhaps more important than WORK in how some people perceive themselves and life generally. 'The word leisure originates from the Latin 'licere', meaning to be permitted. From 'licere' came the french word 'loisir', which means FREE TIME, and such English words as license, meaning permission' (Kando 1975: 22). Leisure is a very complex concept, which is not easily defined, and which has different meanings and salience across time and across cultures, from the ancient Greeks, to INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, to people and institutions of modern capitalist society. This situation has led to diverse views about the importance of leisure and how leisure should be studied. Aristotle viewed leisure as the state of being free from the necessity to labour, but the work-leisure relationship in many pre-industrialized societies was not conceptualized and characterized as it is today. For example, Lynch and Veal argue that the concept of leisure prevailing in European Australia and other industrialized cultures was not evident in Aboriginal culture (Lynch and Veal 1996: 28).