This book explores the meaning of leisure in the context of key social formations of our time. Chris Rojek brings together the insights of feminsim, Marxism, Weber, Elias, Simmel, Nietzsche and Baudrillard to produce a survey – and rethinking – of leisure theory. At the same time he presents a radical critique of the traditional ′centring′ of leisure, on ′escape′, ′freedom′ and ′choice′.
Revealing how leisure practices have responded to living in a risk society, he shows that ′free′ time becomes something very different when simulation and nostalgia lie at the heart of everyday life.
Tabella dei contenuti
Introduction
Capitalism/Modernity/Postmodernity
PART ONE: CAPITALISM AND LEISURE
Capitalism
Production
Capitalism
Reproduction
PART TWO: MODERNITY AND LEISURE
Modernity 1
The Roots of Order
Mechanisms of Regulation
Modernity 2
The Disorder of Things
The Phenomenology of Leisure
PART THREE: POSTMODERNISM AND LEISURE
Postmodernity and Postmodernism
Postmodern Leisure
Conclusion
Homo Faber/Homo Ludens
Circa l’autore
Chris Rojek is Professor of Sociology and Culture at Brunel University, West London. He is a prolific and influential author in the field of Celebrity, Leisure Studies and Popular Culture. In 2003 he was awarded the Allen V. Sapora prize for outstanding achievement in the field of Leisure and Tourism Studies. Besides lecturing in the UK he has given lectures on leisure in Australia, Canada, the USA and the Netherlands. In 2009 he was Hood Fellow at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He also writes on celebrity culture, neat capitalism and myths and realities of national identity. His current research is on popular music and popular culture and the meaning of the celetoid in Reality TV.