Leisure for Leisure

A collection of critical essays which reject the assumptions that leisure relations are relations of freedom, self determination, life satisfaction and growth. The essays look at power and policy issues in leisure relations and attempt to produce a critical sociology of the subject. The first part deals with theoretical perspectives on leisure, associated with the conventional wisdom and neo-Marxism, Elias, Freud, Simmel and bourgeois thought. The second considers issues of power and planning in leisure practice. It consists of essays on leisure policy, women's leisure, the informal economy, drug use and struggles over leisure time and space.