Leisure Theory: Principles and Practice - Report Example

Personal Critique By Student’s Name Code + Course Name Professor’s Name University Name City, State Date Personal Critique Leisure or free time refers to the time spent away from education, work, business, and domestic chores. It also excludes the time spent on essential activities such as sleeping. It is believed that leisure is a vital aspect in the well-being of an individual. People are involved in various activities daily to make ends meet, for instance, going to work, running businesses, carrying out domestic chores, as well as, attending to school (Veal, Lynch & Darcy, 2012). Therefore, it is important to have some leisure time to gain the lost energy, as well as, relieve the body from the pressures it experiences. Sometimes it is challenging in differentiating between leisure and essential activities, for instance, some individual carry out work-oriented tasks for pleasure, as well as, for long term utility. A section of the society argue that free time is illusionary and rarely free, social and economic forces apt free time from the person and sell it back to them as a commodity referred to as leisure. Leisure activities for some individuals are not a completely free choice hence they may be controlled by social pressures, for example, a person being coerced into spending time gardening with the objective of maintaining the standard of neighboring gardens. The aim of the paper is to examine a personal critique of leisure. Leisure gives an individual an opportunity of enjoying or taking part in activities that satisfies one. An individual has freedom to choose on the best activity he or she can carry out from the daily to day tasks. The freedom individuals have leads to others not to utilize leisure positively. A person should ensure that an activity one carries out is good for him or her, as well as, the society to avert possible conflict. Some of the leisure behaviors that are socially normative include shopping, golf, dining, gym, and much more. However, some leisure behaviors may go against the socially acceptable norms that may vary over time and culture. The available time for leisure activities various from one society to another. This is because of the different beliefs and practices that make it challenging to have a common perception of leisure. In the society, men tend to have more leisure time than men do. For adolescents, leisure time is essential for youth development if properly utilized in carrying out constructive and ethical activities. Parents play an important role in an adolescent life, as they influence the attitudes of interest and control. This makes adolescent to be motivated and utilize their leisure activities in carrying out activities that would benefit their growth and development. Eberstadt (2009) argues that parents guiding their children from a young age have a positive impact, as they are shown how to withstand pressure social pressures that may affect their growth and development negatively, for example, drug abuse, pornography, and much more. Social leisure is another concept of leisure where leisure activities are carried out in a social setting, for example, extracurricular activities such as clubs and sports. Social leisure has many benefits that include character development, as well as, self-identity, and understanding better communal setting or hierarchy. Social leisure is essential in making individuals learn from each other. For example, clubs where members have a common objective they can influence an individual positively to have a good behavior. They can aid an individual from evading the dark side of leisure where a section of the society gets involved in drug abuse, pornography, gambling, and much more (Rojek, 2005). Social leisure and mealtime have a huge connection for they are all used as a form of socialization. They are used both in character and youth development hence promote social capital. Social leisure may either have a positive or negative impact to an individual. The attitudes and beliefs of people regarding leisure and their health and well-being have had a huge influence. People believe that having free time from the daily assigned tasks is important to relieve the pressure experienced by the body. The activities carried out by people in the society involve pressure from various areas such to meet set deadlines, to satisfy clients, to accomplish particular set goals, and much more (Rojek, 2005). These aspects results to pressure in one way or the other. Therefore, this has made people to feel that free time or leisure aids in dealing with stress. Individuals getting the time off from work, business, education, domestic chores, and much more makes them to feel relaxed and at peace hence playing a critical role in addressing stress that is associated with them. The beliefs people have that leisure plays a significant role in friendship and empowerment influences the society significantly. Everyone in the society wants to meet new people and have friends hence will see the significance of leisure. This provides an important platform for people to share ideas, experiences, and events that promote the psychological well-being. As people share what is in their mind and heart, it is believed that stress is relieved in one way or the other. This makes people to understand some situations are normal, or far much better than they viewed it to be so there is no need to worry very much. According to Dowling et al. (2005), various aspects influence leisure attitudes and recreation choice in the society due to the different cultures, and background settings. The type of employment an individual has influence leisure attitudes and recreation choice. An individual working in a firm that offers ample time for leisure, it will make on recognize its significance thus spending more time and vice versa. Where an individual is always under pressure to meet the set target, it will make one to have limited time spent of leisure and recreation. Professionals tend to get involved in strenuous exercise, while less prestigious occupations tend to watch more television and other activities such as gardening, listening to music and much more. The level of income and education also determines recreation choices, as well as, leisure attitudes (Sanders, 2005). Those individuals with high level of income tend to have higher level of education as well. Those individuals that have more disposable income will tend to spend more time on leisure activities such as tourism and vice versa. Families and friends also influence the perception on leisure and recreation choices. Our attitudes and preferences on leisure and recreation are conveyed largely through our personal social structure. An individual being exposed early in life by family and friends sets leisure behavior early in ones life such as reading, sports, and much more. An individual establishing personal community relationships and socialization with all the individuals in ones life results to multiple leisure choices. This makes one to have a diverse exposure of leisure activities to take part in. the broad array of choices may be positive or negative. Therefore, an individual needs to be cautious on the leisure activities carried out need to be beneficial to an individual, as well as, the society. According to Sanders (2005), geographic location also influences the attitudes and choices made on leisure and recreation. This influences the nature and access of leisure in a particular location. This may be through climate and topography that will influence the leisure activity an individual may take part in. therefore, the choice of residence for an individual is important in promoting leisure activities that may be carried out. For example, residing in an urban area an individual will get exposed to a wide array of leisure activities due to the many commercial activities and culture of individuals residing there. Each individual in the society has a varying opinion regarding the meaning of leisure. It is the decision of an individual to decide the way in which to spend leisure time whether passive, active or home based. It is important for an individual to engage in socially normative leisure activities. For this will prove to be beneficial to them, as well as, to the society for the behavior is accepted to all the involved parties. In the society, it is evident that leisure time is important to gain satisfaction from the activities carried out (Sanders, 2005). Individuals over indulging in the dark side of leisure may prove destructive to their lives. The dark side of leisure ranges from self-indulgence such as personal drug use, self destructive such as binge drinking, and predatory/exploitative such as pornography. The behaviors may take various forms that include gambling, car theft and joyriding, sport hooliganism, raves and drug taking, petty vandalism, and much more. Behaviors in the dark side of leisure have been in existence for a very long time since the ancient period, for example, Rome took part in orgies, drug and alcohol use, and Greece secret religions that took part in Dionysian rituals. According to the theory of leisure, leisure is essential to everyone for we need relaxation from our day-to-day life. This aids in relieving stress, recharging the body and mind, and having time to ourselves to review our growth and development in life. We treasure our mental and physical health for it aids us in our daily reasoning and carrying out daily assigned tasks (Rojek, 2005). Leisure has been identified as a way of minting our physical and mental health thus the reason why most of us take part in it. Leisure time takes one away from the regular stress in work, business, school, and much more with family and friends. This gives one a sense of belonging and enhances the potential of an individual by promoting the flow of energy. Leisure has changed significantly since the ancient period. The advent of new innovative techniques has diversified the broad range of activities. Some of the ancient leisure activities include stage shows, drama, architecture, and much more. Presently, this has transformed in various forms that include film production, video, broadcasting, and much more. Some stakeholders in the society such as private companies, investors, and the government have identified the commercial aspect of leisure. This portrays how leisure has changed since the ancient period to date, where presently it has become essential part of our daily lives. References Dowling, N. et al. 2005. Electronic gaming machines: are they the ‘crack-cocaine’ of gambling?. Society for the Study of Addiction, pp. 33-45 Eberstadt, M. 2009. Is Pornography the New Tobacco? Policy Review, pp. 1-18 Rojek, C. 2005. Leisure Theory: Principles and Practice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Veal, A.J., Lynch, R. & Darcy, S. 2012. Australia Leisure (4th ed.). Pearson Educational: Sydney Sanders, B. 2005. In the Club: Ecstasy Use and Supply in a London Nightclub. Sociology, pp. 241-258 Read More