Leisure

Leisure is free time spent away from work, school, or other responsibilities. The term can also refer to activities a person engages in during this time. For most of human history, the concept of leisure was reserved for the societal elite, as only wealthy individuals could afford to spend time in recreational pursuits. Lower classes were most often engaged in activities necessary for survival or sustaining a family. It was not until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when the Industrial Revolution created a new middle class that leisure time became accessible to more people. Labor reforms in the early twentieth century shortened the average workday and workweek, opening up more time for other pursuits. This coincided with a growth in industries that specialized in leisure activities such as sports, entertainment, hobbies, and outdoor recreation.

By the twenty-first century, leisure had become a fundamental activity for most people in the industrialized world. In the United States, individuals spent almost five hours a day engaged in some form of leisure, while in many nations, workers were legally entitled to multiple weeks of vacation time. Scientific research had determined that the human brain is most active when it is at rest and that taking some time away from work increases productivity. In this atmosphere, leisure-based businesses flourished with millions of people either watching or participating in leisure activities.

Early History

There is little archeological evidence to suggest that the earliest humans took part in much leisure activity. These humans lived in nomadic societies and were most often preoccupied with issues of survival such as finding food, defending themselves, and sleeping. As humans evolved, however, they developed larger brains and created more efficient tools that allowed them some measure of free time. The first known evidence of sports, art, and human play date back tens of thousands of years. Many of these examples were often part of rituals tied to hunting, farming, warfare, or religious ceremonies; some researchers also believe play-like behavior was instrumental in developing social skills among prehistoric humans.

The domestication of plants and animals about 10,000 BCE led to a more stable and sedentary existence, allowing for the development of small communities and eventually bigger towns and cities. With the first civilizations, societal roles began to be specialized. Instead of all members of a group taking part in hunting or foraging, for example, some focused only on hunting, while others became farmers, craftspeople, builders, or soldiers. In time, these societal changes spawned a stratified social system that divided cultures into upper and lower classes. The lower classes consisted of peasants and slaves who worked to survive, while the wealthy aristocracy held power and with it gained the free time to become the world's first leisure classes.

The priests, soldiers, and royalty of ancient Egypt took part in sports such as bullfighting and wrestling and developed music, dance, and drama that was used for both religious and entertainment purposes. Nobles in Mesopotamia grew gardens, vineyards, and participated in lion-hunting excursions, even going as far as building game preserves for royal hunting parties around the ninth century BCE. The Greek upper classes highly valued leisurely pursuits and believed in a balance between mental and physical well-being. They planned their towns and cities to include theaters, bathhouses, and gymnasiums where they could go to watch plays, discuss philosophy, or exercise. It was the Greek love of sports that led to the creation of the first Olympic Games around 776 BCE.

The societal structure of ancient Rome created a large privileged class that spent most of its time in idle pursuits, while the slaves and lower class farmers performed the bulk of the work. To entertain the elite, Roman leaders held festivals and public games featuring events such as gladiatorial combat and chariot races. The famed Coliseum in Rome was built in 80 CE to accommodate the Roman desire for games and sports. In the first century CE, the Roman elite enjoyed 159 public holidays each year; two centuries later, that number had grown to 200, including 175 days devoted to games. The wealthiest Roman citizens were the first to develop the concept of vacations and tourism for pleasure, spending summers away from the cities in the countryside or at the coast. These practices ended in the fifth century with the fall of the empire and the decline of Roman influence over most of Europe.

The medieval period was dominated by a Christian church determined to move away from what it saw as the pagan practices of ancient Rome. Leisure activities were discouraged as religious orders preached against the "sin" of idleness. A series of foreign invasions added to the political instability across Europe, making travel dangerous and daily life a struggle for the average person. The nobility still found time for leisurely pursuits such as hunting and jousting, but these activities were typically off-limits to the lower classes. Peasants and serfs usually spent their days working, but when they did have free time, they developed their own forms of entertainment. These were often looked down upon by the upper class elites who saw weight throwing, cockfighting, and wrestling as poor men's sport.

During the Renaissance period of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, arts and culture flourished across Europe, giving rise to a host of new leisure activities. Operas, concerts, and theater dramas were common destinations for the era's wealthy, while the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century made reading a popular pastime for the literate. The societal divide between rich and poor continued, with commoners engaging in more "vulgar" activities such as dancing, gambling, or playing cards. In the sixteenth century, Protestant denominations split from the Catholic Church during the Reformation, ushering in more restrictive attitudes on leisure. Once again, idleness was a trait to be discouraged and recreational activities that were once considered popular were denounced from the pulpits of some of the new churches. This focus on hard work and thriftiness over leisure was known as the Protestant work ethic.

Later History

By the late eighteenth century, societies were still mostly agricultural based, with the majority of people living in rural areas, growing their own food, and making their own clothing and other amenities. That changed dramatically in England as technological innovations and economic conditions gave rise to a rapid growth in manufacturing. This Industrial Revolution was spurred by new machines that could produce goods at a rate never seen before. As demand for the goods grew, factories sprang up across England and many people who had been scratching out a living in the countryside moved to urban areas for better-paying manufacturing jobs. A similar societal change occurred in the United States in the early nineteenth century.

While the shift to manufacturing created a whole new class of urban poor, it also led to the birth of a middle class, a group, while far from wealthy, could afford to live a life free from the worry of basic survival. Leisure activities such as travel and sports that were once the exclusive domain of the wealthy were now available to more people. At first, the lower classes did not share in this increase in free time. Most factory workers lived in harsh conditions and were forced to work long hours for low wages. In the mid-nineteenth century, reform movements began to advocate for better conditions for the working poor. In the United States, the average workweek in 1860 was 69.7 hours long; by 1890, that had been reduced to 61.7 hours and by 1910, it stood at 54.9 hours.

These reforms greatly improved conditions and pay while giving the working class more free time than ever before. With more people able to take part in leisure activities, cities and towns began setting aside space for recreational purposes. Parks, theaters, and public pools became commonplace across the country. Organized sports had been gaining in popularity since the early nineteenth century; however, by the 1860s, people began passing their time by not only playing them but also watching them. The first college football game in the United States was played in 1869; the first professional baseball game was played the same year; and the first professional football game kicked off in 1892.

By the early twentieth century, labor unions and government legislation were pushing to get the average workday reduced to eight hours. Some businesses had voluntarily reduced the workweek to forty hours, but it took a federal law in 1938 to make those standards national policy. With the further reduction in work time, businesses and technology geared toward leisure activities became more popular. Film, music, radio, and television grew into wildly profitable enterprises and a thriving tourism industry developed to fuel the desire for travel as a form of leisure. A greater awareness of health issues spurred an interest in fitness activities and an emphasis on better education increased literacy around the world, leading to a growing appetite for reading material.

Topic Today

In 1926, American automotive pioneer Henry Ford was one of the first business owners to reduce the workweek to forty hours. Ford believed that a reduced workload would help his employees increase productivity. Modern studies of the human brain suggest that Ford was right in that assessment. Psychologists have found that innovation and creativity are more common when the brain is in a calm, relaxed state. The brain is more active and communicates with itself better during times of leisure. Time away from responsibilities also leads to a higher life satisfaction and has been found to increase a person's motivation.

In the twenty-first century, most workers in industrialized nations were afforded some paid time off to participate in leisure activities. Most European nations mandate at least twenty days of paid annual leave for full-time members of the workforce. Workers in France receive thirty paid days off a year, while Finland, Norway, and Sweden give their workers twenty-five. In addition to employee leave, many countries also allow for paid holidays. Workers in Austria and Portugal get twenty-two days of paid leave and thirteen paid holidays, for an annual total of thirty-five days. Canada and Japan both offer ten days of paid time off, while the United States is the only advanced economic nation with no government-mandated paid leave. It is up to employers in the United States to provide paid days off for their full-time employees. Most companies do, to varying degrees.

In the United States, the average adult spent about five hours per day in 2022 engaged in leisure activities, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The largest chunk of that time—two hours and forty-seven minutes—was spent watching television. Playing games or using the computer was the next most popular leisure activity at 0.57 hours, followed by socializing at 0.56 hours. Those numbers increased in people over age seventy-five, who spent almost eight hours a day in leisure activities.

Leisure itself has even become a topic of study, with researchers dividing it into categories. According to American sociologist Robert A. Stebbins, casual leisure is short-term, pleasurable activity that provides an immediate reward to a participant. Examples of this include relaxing, watching television, or walking. Project-based leisure is also short term, but it is more complicated and involves more planning. This might include building a model or working on a car engine for fun. Serious leisure involves the systematic pursuit of a hobby, skill, or activity in a nonprofessional capacity. For instance, a person who volunteers at a local hospital or has a passion for amateur astronomy would exemplify serious leisure.

Bibliography

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"Time Spent in Leisure and Sports Activities, 2022." US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 7 Jul. 2023, www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/time-spent-in-leisure-and-sports-activities-2022.htm. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.