The Rationalization of Leisure

Abstract

Braverman wrote: &dquo;The transformation of working humanity into a 'labor force,' a 'factor of production,' an instrument of capital, is an incessant and unending process.&dquo;' This essay is about one part of that process, the industrial recreation movement. Industrial recreation is the term used to describe those recreation activities that are provided by management to satisfy the perceived needs and desires of employees for wholesome and enriching leisure time experiences. Management programs to provide this kind of employee benefit can be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth century, but they only became a significant part of management strategies in the first decades of the present century, when, due to a reduction in the work week, more leisure time became available to the industrial worker. In what follows, we will show that the greater productivity afforded by advanced technology, and the greater amount of free time this provided, constituted both a blessing and a curse to management. We will show too that most businessmen feared the consequences of expanded leisure time and sought to control their employee's use of free time in the interests of protecting their investment in this &dquo;instrument of capital.&dquo; In the course of this essay we hope to show how, in a more general way, the meaning of the new leisure was very much influenced by the new ideas about work that emerged with the growth of monopoly capital and scientific management and that work and leisure represent but &dquo;different expressions of the extension of productive relations into every comer of our lives. &dquo;2 1. Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly

Towards a history of critical marketing studies

“…This, in effect, reflects the critical marketing view that we should be cautious in valorising agency -especially agency that is enacted through some sort of consumption (see Kilbourne, 1991;Peñaloza, 1994, p. 46-47). Even those aspects of consumption that seem to be beneficial to the consumer should be looked at sceptically; in other words, critical scholars require that we ask whose interests are served by particular consumption practices (see Bauman, 1983;Borgerson & Schroeder, 2002;Goldman & Wilson, 1977).…”

Leisure as a Primary Institution

“…The lives of few, if any, members of advanced industrial societies are untouched in one way or another by some component of the leisure establishment. For many, this network of organizations has replaced the family as the major provider of recreational experiences, but this means that leisure is subsequently rationalized (Goldman and Wilson 1977). That is, participation is now governed by rules, procedures, and other formal requirements, dramatically increasing the obligatory element in contemporary leisure.…”

The Influence of Power on Leisure: Implications for Inclusive Leisure Services

“…Rojek [ 42 ] argues that pluralist societies often think leisure consists of fulfilling as many desires as possible in the easiest and fastest way, bending society to their needs and desires using technical means and efficiency calculation to determine instrumentality. The concern with “an attempt to rationalize leisure for productive means,” is that people evaluate in terms of efficiency [ 105 ] (p. 158). Emphasis on instrumental thinking and, as Goldman and Wilson [ 105 ] identify, “technical efficiency” prevailing in modernity moves people away from embracing leisure as an end with its experiences of meaning, joy, and happiness, which many scholars (e.g., Aristotle, Pieper) regard as key defining aspects of leisure.…”