Dennis Brissett

Sociology Department
Portland State University
Portland Ore. ,
and
Robert P. Snow
Sociology Department
State University of New York
Buffalo, New York

-
VICARIOUS BEHAVIOR:
LEISURE AND THE TRANSFORMATION O F
PLAYBOY MAGAZINE _____

A recurrent observation made by many students of the

American scene is that contemporary society is a society of
leisure. In contrast to his inner-directed predecessors, the
American of today is said to have much m o r e time, greater
economic means and, in some cases, greater inclination to pursue
leisure activity. Leisure activity is said to have become a more
important organizing principle in modern man's life than his
vocation.
While there is evidence to support such a contention, this
change should not be construed to mean that play has replaced
work as the focal point of American life. In fact, the shift from
production to consumption, has percipitated the oft-noted change
in the character of leisure itself. While in times past leisure
could be considered time away from work, the leisure of the con-
temporary American is fused with traditional dimensions of work.
The American of today does not feel that he earns h i s leisure,
nor is he often able to escape from work in his leisure activity.
The home has become a workshop and the factory a ranch house.
Paradoxically, to engage in leisure pursuits is to work.
 "Vicarious Behavior" 429

The reality of this work-leisure fusion s e e m s w e l l marked

by the development of a "fun ethic" which permeates the leisure
time activities of many Americans. This "fun ethic" involves a
pursuit of the mystique which fun is alleged to bring to leisure
activity. Furthermore, it involves a "belief in the absolute n cessity
for fun. .. , '' for "to be funless is to invite scorn and pity. ' If
The American of today feels that he must be as successful a t play
as he is at work. Indeed Wolfenstein has argues that "play tends
to be mea ured by standards of achievement previously applicable
to work. ''' Thus the degree to which one is having fun is in fact
subjected to the yardstick of a work ethic.
This work-leisure analysis, we feel, is m o r e appropriate
to middle class s ciety than to working class (or lower class)
leisure patterns.' Also, and more importantly for our present
intentions, the observations cited above omit a consideration of
the place of "vicarious behavior in leisure activity; "vicarious
leisure" is the most work-free leisure available to the contem-
porary middle class American. It is, in a sense, the last vestige
of unadulterated play.
Playboy, our presentation is an analysis of the character
of vicarious behavior and an application of this analysis to the
vicarious sexual experience available through a m a s s medium.
Playboy Magazine, in its early y e a r s served as a vicarious sexual
experience but Playboy more recently s e e m s to be undermining the
substance of the vicarious experience for many readers.
What is Vicarious Behavior ?
Vicarious behavior, or more specifically, vicarious leisure,
includes those situations in which a n individual, while acting, cannot
be made responsible for his activity by others in the situation.
Although other actors may be p a r t of the individual's vicarious activity,
and perhaps evenbeaware of the existence of the vicarious activity
they in no way can fix the responsiblity for the activity on the individual
who acts vicariously. The individual who acts vicariously is able
to define the situation in such a way as to preclude the relevance of
many responses by others to the career of his vicarious experience.
In such cases an individual may play the r o l e of a football quarter-
back via television o r a stadium seat, have a torrid affair with a n
exotic dancer while occupying a ring-side table, o r be a cosmopolitan
while reading certain magazines.
430 Dennis Brisset & Robert P. Snow

Vicarious behavior is not unreal. In fact, i t is a consciously

motivated activity and not, as some would have it, unconscious or
subliminal. Nor is vicarious behavior asocial. Although generally
defined as a private affair, it is very definitely social. It is social
in the sense that it is usually conducted in settings with other persons
either present or represented through various media. It is also
social in the sense that it often incorporates and indeed is often pre-
mised upon the various activities of other actors in the situation,
such as the success or failure of the quarterback, cosmopolite, or
the routine of the exotic dancer. Furthermore, vicarious behavior
is social in the sense that it too has a career, the contingencies and
futures of which are borrowed from the social milieux.
Vicarious behavior as similarities with th incipient act
as defined by George Mead.' However, like Dewey? Mead, in his
conceptualization of thinking, interprets the incipient act in an un-
necessarily pretexual manner. According to Mead, the incipient
act serves as a rehearsal for future non-vicarious activity, and is
said to supply a partial legitimation for the actor's identity. Recently
McCall and Simmons observed that:
Many of our best role performances take place purely
in imagination. A person who entertains the role-identity
of a writer may never put a work on paper, but may still
partially legitimize this identity merely by mentally toying
with plot after plot. This kind of covert performance can
be partially legitimizing because it is essentially a 'dry run'
for the actual performance, in this sense, the initial phase
of an act and serves as a sign or gesture of what may come.
To the extent that this is true, Mead has argued, one need not
wait to see the rest of what is to come; the gesture stands
for an actual performance that may follow, and to the degree
to which the connection is certain, legitimizes the act itself. 6

'
Although vicarious experience may be a rehearsal for future
non-vicarious acticity, it may also be a rehearsal for ture vicarious
activity and may even be preferred as an end in itself. In any case,
the rehearsal dimension pertains only to a possible function of the
vicarious experience and is not its defining elements. Moreover, we
do not see t h i s defining element in the legitimation or support one
garners for his identities in the vicarious experience. Rather, the
essentfal element is that vicarious experience is an activity in which
 “Vicarious Behavior” 431

one acts out the behaviors associated with an identity without becoming
committed to that particular identity. In brief, vicarious experience
most fundamentally entails a perso ‘ s involvement in a situation
without a commitment on his part. ?I
Commitment develops in a process of interaction in which
an actor’s behavior establishes his identit and commits him to
various futures. That is, in a meaningfuly0 encounter, the acting
out of behaviors associated with a particular identity results in
the establishment of that identity. Once one’s identity is establish-
ed, one is committed. This commitment can be of two principal
types. l1 First, there is the type discussed by H. Becker, in
which the ongoing behavior of the actor has implications for
identities other than the one established in the activity in which
the actor is presently engaged. l 2 Second, is an often neglected,
though in our estimation, a more fundamental type. Here the
ongoing behavior of the actor has implications for the future
career of the specific identity established in the activity in which
the actor is presently engaged. 13
In contrast, involvement refers to a performance associat-
ed with an identity, but without the announcement and placement
of that identity in interaction. In essence, it rtains to behaviors
in which one engages without being identified. Therefore, in-
volvement prohibits r e s p ~ n s i b i l i t y ’from
~ arising as there is
no identity to which responsibility can be affixed. i6
Since vicarious leisure lacks the commitments of everyday
leisure behavior, and the socially declared responsibility for that
behavior; it also lacks the dimensions of work ascribed to many
middle class leisure patterns. The presence of a commitment
(and the possibility of responsibility) is a necessary condition of
activities that are labeled work. On the other hand, to be in-
volved with and not committed to what one is doing enables one
to avoid both the problematic establishment of self17 and the
entanglement of other identities, both those which may unwittingly
impinge on the situation and those of others which one is respons-
ible for validating.
Therefore, vicarious leisure appears to be a work-free
form of behavior which permits both emotional and cognitive ex-
pression without the restrictions of a n established identity. It
permits an individual to play without the conventional confinements
of a fun-morality and )$”related work dimensions of typical
middle class leisure. It is, in a more fundamental sociological
432 Iknnis Brisset & Robert Snow

sense, a n extreme form of what some have come to label r o l e dis-

-tance.
_ 19
The Role of Playboy
Obviously much leisure activity in American involves sex.
To confirm this all one need do is scan the entertainment media of
movies, television, books, and magazines, especially Playboy
magazine. Since its beginning late in 1953, it has r i s e < ~ o n t h l y
circulation of over 5,500,000. Today - Playboy
- must be considered
one of the most widely read, or at least "looke t" magazines in
America, particularly among the middle class. 528
A brief analysis of certain elements of -___Playboy's r i s e to
fame w i l l underscore our conception of vicarious leisure. In this
analysis we w i l l be concerned with two principle themes: 1) How in
its early y e a r s Playboy served as a vehicle for vicarious sexual
behavior; and 2) How in the last ten y e a r s Playboy is seemingly
undermining the essential foundation of the vicarious sexual experi-
ence.
During its early y e a r s , Playboy
-- magazine presented in
pictorial and article form a model of behavior in which a n individual
could vicariously participate. Oriented toward an urban male market,21
Playboy
- - portrayed an ideal cosmopolitan style of leisure activity.
The style of life presented w a s consistent with middle class values,
but also characterized by aspiration rather than achievement. What
-___
Playboy portrayed was often impractical if not impossible to obtain,
and yet it w a s and still is part of the American male mystique.
Playboy glorified sex in a slick style t t could be classified as
pornographic, but not smutty or dirty.' The playmates presented
in the monthly gatefolds were g i r l s ready for the asking, but also
wholesome and nearly virtuous in appearance. To engage in sexual
activity with these g i r l s was portrayed as good clean, albeit vicarious,
fun. Significantly this w a s not done in the name of "art" or any other
guise. What w a s presented w a s unmistakable, and what was accom-
plished with the girl-next-door-look w a s an ideal pornography for the
middle class m e, one which became acceptable to his wife and
minister alike.
Sex in Playboy w a s good clean fun. It w a s satisfying, anti-
septic and devoid of the connotations that middle class society as-
sociates with hard core pornography. The notion was presented that
one could particfpate in this life only if.. .and the psychology of
"if" w a s brilliantly communicated and reaffirmed. The reader of
 "Vicarious Behavior" 433

Playboy received the impression that if he were both inordinately

fortunate and astute, he would be able to exercise as a sexualsuper-
man. Oriented to this purpose were feature length articles from
well-known authors, such as "Uncovering a Nudist Wedding, '' by
E a r l Wilson, Erskine Caldwell's "Advice About Women, " and
others entitled, "How to Succeed with Women without really Trying,"
"Will She or Won't She, "Stags for Fun and Profit," and "Some
Guys Get It. '' These and many other articles dealing with sexual
behavior provided a n opportunity for vicarious participation. In
addition, nearly every issue had one or more pictorial articles
featuring a range from the nudity of such screen stars as Jane
Mansfield, Anita Ekberg, Gina Lollobrigida to exotic excursions
such as "Backstage at the Copa, '' "A Stripper goes to College, ' I
"Playboy goes to Vegas, '' "Burlesque in Tokyo, I f and even "The
P r o s of Paris" which gave names, prices and photos of Paris
prostitutes. And if this were not enough, cartoon a r t focused on
the voluptuous secretary, wife, or acquaintance waiting for and
ready to b e seduced by rfyouffthe reader. Undeniably the attempt,
and result as attested to by the fan mail, was m involvement of
the reader in the scene.
During these early years no notion w a s given that one should
or could live the Playboy style of life. Playboy's prese tion of
-__I

sex was not serious. It w a s fun in sex for its own sake.% - -
Playboy
was providing a work-free leisure activity, which not only was
unadulterated play, but which also provided a sense of autonomy
not always available where commitments are established. In
involvement or vicarious activity the g i r l of one's fancy could be
his, as all the obstacles such as money, proximity to the scene,
or getting caught in the act by one's wife, w e r e swept aside. In
addition, one did not need to fear being "put-dow ' I as one's be-
havior never had to be evaluated by anyone else. 35
Playboy has changed its approach. It has recently turned
to encouraging and developing a commitment on the part of the
reader.
In the late ~ O ' S , Playboy began to develop and market an
--I-

image of the real life playboy. This led to the idea and design of
a playboy dream bachelor penthouse, which was subsequently
constructed and featured as the setting for a late night TV variety
show. Soon a number of Playboy Clubs opened in major cities
with the center being the luxurious Playboy mansion in Chicago.
An identity kitz6 for the playboy w a s also developed and seriously
434 Dennis Brisset & Robert Snow

marketed. This identity kit provided the reader with a wide range
of material artifacts that he could manipulate in his encounters with
others. It was presented as being relevant in some g a y to nearly
all facets of the cosmopolitan style of life presented by Playboy.
It included a clothing valet, a pocket secretary, a money fold and
clip, men's jewelry, a special golf putter, and even "the pipe that
Hef smokes. I ' Clothing and accessories for the playmate included
a night s h i r t and night cap, an assortment of jewelry, a velvet and
lace garter, and an elegant perfume to "bring out the playmate in
her. " For the dedicated couple, there are match-mate s e t s of
casual chthing ranging from t e r r y cloth bathwear to warm-up shirts.
There wa s also a large variety of items for party entertainment or
conspicuous decoration, such as a cocktail and snack s e t for two
(complete with napkins and swizzle sticks in the deluxe set), playing
cards, a liquor caddy, and even a w a l l plaque with an artificial
bunny tail and the inscription "Caught Live a t the Playboy Club. "
In addition, the Playboy identity kit was replete with reading material:
bound editions of specialized back issue material such as The Playboy
Cartoon Album, Playboy Party Jokes, The Playboy Gourmet, The
Bedside Playboy, and __
- Vip, the magazine for the "in-group, " which
among other subjects, features playboy profiles and photo features
on clubs, keyholders, and bunnies.
In purchasing and using the extensive list of paraphernalia
in the Playboy identity kit, an individual would seemingly be re-
cognizing, if not in fact committing himself to an identity being
furnished by Playboy magazine. At least a n individual who displays
these items, all of which conspicuously bear the ubiquitous bunny,
is certainly announcing this identity to others, thereby initiating
the identity establishment and commitment process.
Playboy also began special magazine features. In Septem-
ber of 1960, a column entitled the "Playboy Advisor" w a s initiated.
According to the editors, this column w a s designed to answer the
urban man's questions on food, drink, clothes, taste, etiquette
and dating dilemmas. Seemingly, Playboy had come to take itself
seriously. What originally w a s a vanguard of vicarious sexual
experience was becoming a manual in the "fine a r t " of male-female
relations. Along with this change came a shift in attention from a
sole preoccupation with the urban male to more intense concern
with both male and female as seen in "the Playboy Forum. "
-Playboy
- began to stress equality and what some feel is actually
the dominance of the female in sexual relations. Behind every
 "Vicarious Behavior'. 435

successful cosmopolitan male was said to stand a t least one cosmo-

politan female and vice versa. Whether the magazine a t this point
should be r e f e r r e d to as Playboy or Playgirl is not a facetious
question. Regardless, the point is that an identity and the means
for establishing it was being furnished for persons who wished to
carry out the round of life presented in the magazine.
Two y e a r s and several thought ovoking panel discussions28
later became the"Playboy Philosophy. "HAlthough the philosophy
series was originally meant to be only a two or three part series,
it became an established feature of the magazine. As the creator
of Playboy, Hugh Hefner, notes the philosophy series w a s an out-
growth of a new attack from Playboy's critics. Before the 1960's,
criticism focused on the treaiment of sex, which was easily countered
by the editors. However, in 1962 Mr. Hefner stated that "criticism
is emerging on the philosophical pros and cons of the playboy concept."
He therefore attempted to s e t down, as he states, "Our guiding
principles and editorial credo. 'I Not only did this affirm Hefner's
commitment to the playboy identity, but many readers' commitments
as well. Everyone from soCiologists to mail clerks sent letters
praising Hefner for his stand and pledging support to the new philos-
ophy series. It might even be said that for Hefner and company
the philosophy series has become a crusade for a better world.
Althoughplavbov's endeavor may or may not lead to a better
world, it has given rise to a definite sociological point of
interest. That is, Plavboy's philosophy provided the needed
justification for those wishing to be either playboys or playmates.
It is precisely in the articulation of a n identity, its justi-
fication, and its means for establishment, that a paradox arises,
for it is in the assumption and assignment of an identity that
one's involvement becomes a commitment. In the process of
espousing the playboy and playmate identities the magazine is
destroying the very conditions for vicarious sex and is laying
foundation for a work-permeated form of sexual activity.
plavbov magazine has thus for the past few y e a r s been in
a process of converting a vicarious work-free form of leisure
into a n active working form of leisure.30 It has accomplished this
ir tnree principle ways. By specifying a style of life and underlining
436 Dennis Brisset & Robert Snow

the social category of man that goes with it, an identity is being
provided that can be and is established in a person's face-to-face
encounters. By specifying the philosophy of this style of life,
Playboy is providing a vocabulary of motives which justifies (moti-
vates) a person's assumption and ascription of that identity. Finally,
by specifying the repertoire of props, equipment, staging techniques
and components of the identity kit, Playboy is providing the means
by which one may establish his or h z r x n t i t y . What was once an
involvement in play may now be becoming a commitment to work.

NOTES
'Max a n t h e r , The Weekenders (Philadelphia: T. B.
I_

Lippincott Co., 1964), Pp. 61-62.

'Martha Wolfenstein, "The Emergence of Fun Morality, "

in Eric Larrabee and Rolf Meyersohn (eds. ), Mass Leisure
-
(Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1958), p. 93.
31t is our belief that a fusion of work and leisure has not
occurred in the working class, at least to the degree to which it
has in the middle class. We are presently, in another paper,
amassing certain evidence for this assertion.
4Mind, Self and Society, edited by Charles W. Morris
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934).
-- (New York
John Dewey, Human Nature and Conduct
Henry Holt, 1922).
6George J. McCall and J. L. Simmons, Identities and
Interactions (New York The Free Press, 1966), pp. 71-72.

'The fact that vicarious experience may be a preferred

end state in itself distinguishes it from the character of the
incipient act or thinking. It is our feeling that it is not only those
who are incapable of doing something else who engage in vicarious
activity, but that vicarious activity may in fact be preferred over
what is commonly r e f e r r e d to as "real behavior. "
 "Vicarious Behavior" 437
- -- -

8This definition of vicarious experience includes what is

traditionally labeled either overt or covert behavior.

'Identity here refers to the outcome of the process where-

by one is categorized, labeled, or according to Gregory Stone,
where one is socially situated. Gregory Stone, "Appearance
and the Self, " in Arnold M. Rose (ed. ), Human Behavior and
Social
- ~ -Processes
- - - - (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1962).
'We are using "meaningful" in the same sense as George
H. Mead.
"Another interesting type of commitment which will not
be examined here is the case of being committed to the identity
(or the perpetuation of the identity) of some other person.

"Howard Becker, The Outsiders (Glencoe, Illinois:

The Free Press, 1963).
13The second type of commitment may take at least three
different forms. First, the commitment may be to a very broad
category of identity such as "male, 'I which is premised on a
c a r e e r involving a large number of widely divergent relationships
with females. Second, a commitment to a rather specialized
identity category, such as husband, is premised on a career of
many different relationships with a wife. Finally, an identity
may be premised on a single current encounter as a husband and
wife making love. In any single activity one, two, or all three
forms may be present.
14The ongoing legal-psychiatric debate is relevant here,
as it s e e m s that the label of mental illness is often invoked in
those situations where a meaningful commitment cannot be
isolated. This s e e m s to reaffirm the notion of a socially derived
and negotiable character of responsibility.
151n this regard involvement is a residual phenomenon in
much the s a m e manner in which Thomas Scheff argues for
"residual rules" in Being Mentally
---111 (Chicago: Aldine Publish-
ing Company, 1966). For this reason, it s e e m s difficult indeed
438 Dennis Brisset & Robert Snow

to argue for a vicarious identity, although the sex symbolists of

which Max Gunther -~(op. cit. ) speaks approach this.

161t is not surprising that vicarious behavior is often

entered anonymously, since surrendering one's name may
establish one's identity. Of course, in such cases, the
establishment is contingent upon the other's u s e of and degree of
interest in the name as a condition for future interaction.
17E. Goffman speaks most eloquently of the problematic
nature and consequent labor of establishing one's self in Present-
ation of Self in --Everyday
-- Life (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh,
Social Sciences Research Center, 1956).
18However, vicarious leisure is much more than not being
work. In fact, it is our premise that vicarious leisure may be the
vehicle by which the "other -directed" man achieves his freedom
and a good measure 01 his self-esteem. Through his vicarious
behavior, the other-directed man actually achieves an autonomy
many observers deny he is capable of achieving. He becomes his
own man because he is free from conventional commitments of
his other-directed round of life. In turn, the individual is also
able to experience a sense of control, or as some authors have
described it, a sense of competence in h i s vicarious affairs.
In short, an individual can establish and maintain a level of self-
esteem commensurate with his vicarious activity. This is not
to say that all persons participating in vicarious leisure develop
a sense of freedom and competence. It is only to say that the
conditions and context of vicarious leisure permit, and even
encourage, the realization of a measure of autonomy and self-
esteem for the much maligned other-directed person.
"cf .
Erving Goffman, Encounters (Indianapolis, Indiana:
Bobbs-Merrill Co. , Inc., 1961).

20The middle class characters are reverently documented

in the "What Sort of Man Reads Playboy" advertisement which
appears in most issues.
 "Vicarious Behavior" 439

211n the first issue Oecember 1953) the following state-

ment appeared 'We want to make it clear from the s t a r t we
aren't a family magazine. If you are somebody's sister, wife or
mother-in-law and picked u s up by mistake, please pass u s along
to the man in your life and get back to your Ladies Home Companion. "

22See Ned Polsky, Hustlers, Beats and Others (Chicago:

Aldine Publishing Co. , 1 9 r -

231n the early issues letters of praise came from a

variety of people including married women, college professors,
and clergymen. One of the most talked about features was the
f i r s t of the girl-next-door types--Janet Pilgrim who many said
w a s the most beautiful creature they had ever seen (June 1955).
241n the March 1956 issue the editors stated that "Sex is
neither dirty, nor is it sacred cow. We refuse to put sex in some
special category where it can't be written about or joked about. "
In the April 1956 issue in response to a question, 'What is a
Playboy?" they state, "He must s e e life not as a vale of tears,
but as a happy time. . . .and be a man of taste, a man sensitive
to pleasure, a man who without acquiring the stigma of the
vduptuary--can live life to the hilt. "

25 It is in this context that the other-directed man is able

to achieve a sense of autonomy.

26That theidentity kit is an important element of the identity

establishment process, is underscored by Goffman. In his words
"The individual ordinarily expects to exert some control over the
guise in which he appears before others. For this he needs
cosmetic and clothing supplies, tools for applying, arranging and
. .
repairing them and access to decoration specialists. . in short
the individual will need an 'identity kit' for the management of his
personal front, " Erving Goffman, --_-
Asylums (Garden City, New
York Anchor Books, Doubleday and Co., Inc. , 1961).
27All the items of the identity kit discussed below are
sold through Playboy Products division, and for your convenience
and pleasure there is a quick order service called "Dial a Bunny. "
440 Dennis Brisset & R o b e r t Snow

28The panels referred to w e r e discussions among national

authorities on TV, the Womanization of American and Business
Ethics and Morality.

29The f i r s t installment of the Playboy Philosophy appeared

December 1962.

30Although little evidence for an actual behavior change

among r e a d e r s is offered, o r at this point intended, we feel the
conditions for such a behavior change are presented in the
magazine. We are presently investigating the extent to which
these conditions are realized by the readers.

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