The Concept of Leisure and Recreation:

The literature contains a number of definitions of LEISURE. However, there is a general consensus that
there are three primary ways in which to consider leisure: leisure as time, leisure as activity, and leisure
as state of mind. In a simple approach we can use the following settings to define leisure as referred in
PARK AND RECREATION PROFESSIONAL'S HANDBOOK:

• Leisure as time - leisure is time free from obligations, work and tasks required for existing
(sleeping, eating). Leisure time is residual time.

• Leisure as activity – leisure can also be viewed as activities that people engage in during their
free time—activities that are not work oriented or that do not involve life maintenance tasks
such as housecleaning or sleeping. Leisure as activity encompasses the activities that we
engage in for reasons as varied as relaxation, competition, or growth and may include reading
for pleasure, meditating, painting, and participating in sports.

• Leisure as State of Mind - The definition of leisure as state of mind is much more subjective
than the others two perspectives. It considers the individual's perception of an activity.
Concepts such as perceived freedom, intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, and positive
affect are critical to determining whether an experience is leisure or not leisure.

The definition of RECREATION is more consensual than leisure concept. In general Recreation is an
activity that people engage in during their free time, that people enjoy, and that people recognize as
having socially redeeming values. Unlike leisure, recreation has a connotation of being morally
acceptable not just to the individual but also to society. Recreation activities can take many forms, they
must contribute to society in a way that society deems acceptable and can change over time.

Leisure in a historical and sociological perspective:

The practice of leisure, in the present times, has been far away from the concept that this term
represents in the past where involves a separation between practice and philosophical and identity
meaning.

For Kelly, in a paper presented to the 6th World Leisure Congress (2000), “leisure is no longer a
philosophical ideal but a socially constructed set of behaviours, meanings, structures, and ideologies”.

In this way, the traditional definition can’t be accepted anymore as main definition (ideal of freedom,
opportunity of choice and happiness are no longer the mains issues to attempt with leisure practice),
because this definition don’t consider the changes of social contexts.

In the new concept leisure is mainly a contextual concept that grows from a social process that model
and shaped the way that people experience and perceived leisure. Opportunities, different ways of life,
cultural background, social class, etc, constitutes transforming and conditioning factors that conforms
how leisure is perceived.

Social system, individual behaves, expectations and perceptions regulate the actions and manners of
leisure fruition. In fact, in every moment, in every time, actions and manners are regulated by the
perceptions of others and by people’s own self-reflection.

In that bases we could design a historical scheme to denote de evolution or changes in leisure concept
and meaning

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 • In Ancient Greece society, the meaning of leisure was related with perform intellectual activities to
enrich the spirit. They considered leisure not as a utilitarian way of knowledge, but as a contemplative
way, opposed to the occupation/work. In this way, the purpose of leisure resided in leisure itself, and in
this context Mazón (2001) concludes that “only those who had leisure time were free”, and Russell
(2002) refers that this is possible because the work was provided by the slaves. Leisure was for free and
well-educated men.

• In Roman culture leisure faces different meaning and performance according to the social class
considered. For the upper classes, leisure is approached to the Greek perspective, and is
related to a way of contemplation and resting. For the lower classes, leisure is associated with
fun. To promote the entertainment of the masses, Rome uses comedies and treats promoted
by the State.

• In the Middle Ages, leisure is perceived basically as a time of resting and celebration, controlled by the
feudal lords and religion structures which ruled people’s lives and fixed the conceptions and values of
society. In this time leisure was mixed with the religious festivities, materialized in pagan festivals, often
performed outside the norms of the Church.

• In the late Middle Ages, as Montaner explained (1996), leisure becomes a form of ostentation,
luxury and pleasure, attracting social respect, showing wealth and power, and the Greek
interpretation of leisure lost representativity. In Renaissance period the mental pleasure and
freedom perspectives of leisure is recovered by the artistic activities.

• In the advent of the Industrial Revolution leisure was no longer seen in a philosophical way, but
it is used to distinguish people in function of a specific lifestyle. The idle class, privileged,
cultivates the pleasures of leisure, but the capitalist model led to the application of severe
conditions of exploitation towards the workers. In Industrial Age the increase in work time is
the main concept. The main goal was to increase production. However, the working class start
to claim for better work conditions, namely the reduction of the work journey and higher
salaries, which became the premises to enjoy the free time.

• Nowadays leisure time could be seen as a complex set of events or experiences that we can
choose for our own happiness and pleasure, selected inside the social context. For Elias (1992),
“the special characteristics of the leisure activities can only be understood if considered not only
in relation to employment, but also in relation to numerous non-leisure activities performed
during free time”.

The influence of Internet and it´s benefits in leisure perspective:

The technological advances and improvements have been act as a change factor in leisure activities,
providing access to a new places, devices, services, etc. It is a new window that shows a multiple
opportunities to use “free time”.

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Nowadays, the “digital world” changes the concept of distance, transform the communication between
people and create a virtual perception of satisfaction and pleasure. In this Digital Era we can visit a
museum, travel around the world, listen to a concert or watch a movie without leaving home.

But these new opportunities can also contribute to creating social asymmetries – Some people could
access to better goods, information and devices, while other ones can barely acquire what they need to
survive – This is the “perverse side” of technological advances. This inequality in access to better goods
can often become a social exclusion factor, and conditions the experiences and perception of leisure.

As Brasileiro (2013) said in the Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies, “In contemporary times, leisure
moves within modern and postmodern logic, in a scale of values that goes from leisure to recover from
the fatigue caused by work, passing through consumerist demonstrations, until experiences of human
development, with relative autonomy in relation to labor, market and social pressures.”

Bibliography :
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261612026_The_transformation_of_leisure#pf3

file:///C:/Users/JAC/Downloads/1741-Texto%20do%20Trabalho-1888-1-10-20190830%20(2).pdf

https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/definitions-of-leisure-play-and-recreation

file:///C:/Users/soled/OneDrive/Ambiente%20de%20Trabalho/LeisrueTheory.pdf

file:///C:/Users/soled/OneDrive/Ambiente%20de%20Trabalho/6273v52s.pdf

https://rlec.pt/article/download/1741/1741/

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001139217402200106

Different kinds of leisure before internet: