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Within the professional Event Management literature considerable claims have been made for Event Management. Investment in the area and student enrolments has risen dramatically. In some circles, Event Management is portrayed as challenging Leisure Studies and even undermining it. However, if one examines the professional literature, one quickly finds that it is overwhelmingly uncritical and self-congratulatory. The relationship between Events, manipulation, corruption and social control has not been rigorously examined. This paper distinguishes the main types of Global Event (Single Issue and Cyclical). It attempts a balanced account of the claims made by Event Management. It examines data from Live Aid, the FIFA World Cup and the Sydney Olympics to test the claims against practice. It also includes two longer examinations of Global Event Management, namely the Sydney Mardi Gras and the Live 8 (2005) concert. The paper concludes that Event Management is based in principles from neo-liberalism and communi...

This paper is an attempt to reaffirm the relevance of Marxism for Leisure Studies. It is motivated by the view that the influence of Marxism on the field was late and short lived (primarily through Clarke and Critcher’s book The Devil Makes Work (1985)). Marxism in Leisure Studies was rapidly eclipsed by the revival of neo-liberal approaches and the ascent of post-structuralism which privileged ‘discourse’, ‘coding’ and ‘representation’ over economics and class. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the so-called ‘velvet revolution’ in Eastern Europe seemed to expose Marxism as passe and wrong headed. The serious Western economic crisis following the banking collapse (2008) and its effects on employment, work prospects, public investment in welfare, education, health and leisure, together with the persistence of the development gap between the economically advanced countries and the emerging/developing world, and the threat to the environment and society of competitive industrial production, combine (with many ...

This paper examines P2P (file sharing) culture as a novel leisure form. P2P raises significant issues about the ownership and control of intellectual and artistic property, access and the regulation of leisure choice. The paper examines the efforts of the recording industry to suppress file‐sharing technology. It examines the limitations on this strategy associated with globalized leisure culture. Following the World Leisure and Recreation Association’s ‘Sao Paulo Declaration’ (1998), it is possible to interpret P2P as a leisure form that fosters social inclusion, empowerment and distributive justice. This leaves the recording industry in the awkward position of seeking both to impose limitations on the functionality of computer exchange technology and to regulate participation in a mass popular cultural and leisure form. The culture of down‐loading is located in relation to the tradition of social banditry. Down‐loading is presented as part of much more long‐standing, deeply rooted traditions of...

This paper calls for a revisionist reading of the thesis of the leisure class. Veblen's great work The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) argued that society is ruled by a leisure class. The primary identifying characteristics of this class are prodigious wealth, voluntary abnegation from pecuniary labour and conspicuous consumption. Veblen's argument suggested the decomposition of the work ethic because the characteristics cultivated by the rich would be emulated by the lower orders. Schor's The Overworked American (1991) work suggests that overwork, not leisure is one of the primary identifying characteristics of postwar culture. The article uses statistical and biographical data on the rich today to provide a counterpoint to Veblen's thesis. It is argued that the rich are not characterized by a rejection of work. On the contrary the richest people in the world typically work longer hours than the average. For these individuals work adopts a play form which probably contrasts sharply with wider social e...

The work of Walter Benjamin has achieved belated recognition in the social sciences as one of the most prescient accounts of modernity. However, it is not generally recognized that Benjamin also provides the first theory of leisure as an inevitably politicized type of activity. By tying the expansion of leisure to the rise of consumer culture and the development of modernity, Benjamin showed why leisure is fated to become beset with conflict. At the root of this is the idea that the increasing reflexivity produced by the growth of leisure time and space exposes the political fetters on leisure experience in capitalist society. In this paper the essential features of Benjamin's analysis as they pertain to understanding and studying leisure are considered. These are taken to be his concepts of modernity, phantasmagoria, aura and flanerie. The meaning of each concept is addressed and related to the wider theme of leisure experience. An attempt to show the value of Benjamin's approach compared with current in...

Although Veblen's theory of leisure is widely referenced today it is rarely discussed at length. This paper explores the continuing relevance of the theory. In particular it concentrates on the relation of the theory to consumer culture and the concept of leisure as a basic human need. The evolutionary aspects of Veblen's discussion, which are often neglected in secondary accounts, are given prominence. Veblen's theory is described as a contribution to the productivist tradition in leisure studies. The main features of this tradition and Veblen's place in it are examined. The productivist case is compared and contrasted with Huizinga's theory of play. Veblen's theory emerges as a flawed but vital instrument in exploring contemporary leisure forms.

For at least the last ten years social theory and philosophy has been dominated by the debate on modernity and postmodernity. However, the influence of this debate in leisure studies has been uneven. Postmodern arguments have exerted an influence but they have often been misrepresented by the rhetoric of traditions of collectivist thought. This paper argues that postmodernism should be regarded as one of three ‘moments’ in the development of leisure studies: the moment of functionalism; the moment of politicization; and the moment of postmodernism. An attempt is made to assess critically one of the leading representatives of the collectivist tradition: cultural studies. The arguments of this position are contrasted with those of postmodernism and an important division within cultural studies is identified.

Jean Baudrillard is widely recognized as one of the leading lights of post-modernist theory. Yet students of leisure appear to be either unaware or oddly impervious to the significance of his ideas for their work. This is surprising for Baudrillard's ideas are both relevant and challenging to the theoretical and applied sides of leisure studies. This paper attempts to pinpoint the relevance of Baudrillard's ideas and present a critical evaluation of them. His place in the tradition of leisure theory is discussed, and the conclusion points to the practical application of Baudrillard's arguments in exploring the simulated leisure environment.

Marxist approaches are exerting a growing influence in the field of leisure study, yet the basis for these ventures in Marx's own writings is not always made clear. This paper examines Marx's work and submits that it does contain a theory of leisure. Marx's view of leisure in capitalist society derives from his examination of the class struggle, damaged sociability, commodity fetishism and reification. It also includes a provisional outline of leisure relations under communism. In this paper, Marx's writings on leisure in capitalist and communist societies are compared and the critical tensions between them elucidated.

This paper reviews two contrasting approaches underlying leisure studies, namely emancipation and demoralization. Emancipation implies that leisure will enable people to become free; demoralization implies that leisure creates and satisfies false needs in a demoralized society. Each approach is found wanting. A third approach is identified which studies leisure in its own right and not as a dependent subset of other areas, such as work. The emphasis is on examining the emotional content of leisure pursuits and delineating the social context in which power exchanges take place. The conclusion is drawn that before an adequate theory of leisure can develop, the history of leisure will have to be reinterpreted through more historical research.

This paper argues that society is saturated with ideas of ‘normal’ ‘healthy’ leisure practice. These ideas reflect an historically specific distribution of power. The case of the hippy convoy and the controversy over the use value of Stonehenge as a leisure resource is examined to illustrate the official ordering of leisure in society and the social reaction to it. The paper concentrates on the events of 1986 leading to the Stoney Cross clearance. The paper concludes by making two general points about the significance of leisure experience in consciousness raising and the importance of deviant leisure for leisure studies.