Leisure in America

elective courses
elective monographs

The U.S. has been coined a ‘No-Vacation Nation’ – it is the only state in the developed world that does not guarantee paid leave to its citizens. But does it mean Americans have no leisure? The images of gamblers and party-goers in Las Vegas or tourists in Grand Canyon speak to the contrary… This course focuses on leisure in America. Free time in North America will be analyzed in conjunction with work and acceleration of social life. It will be viewed as a site where people consume, play, search for the good life and ‘behave badly’ – as well as the site where both market and state try to achieve their goals. Students will learn to see the particularities of leisure in America in the context of the country’s socio-political history. They will be able to characterize major conceptual approaches to leisure and apply them in the analysis of selected leisure pursuits.

Vacation Nation’ – it is the only state in the developed world that does not guarantee paid leave to its citizens. But does it mean Americans have no leisure? The images of gamblers and party-goers in Las Vegas or tourists in Grand Canyon speak to the contrary. Family beach vacations,

amusement park excursions, and other consumer-oriented recreational activities now define the

American way of life.

The aim of this course is to zoom-in on leisure in America. Free time in this part of the world should be placed in historical context that made protestant religion, slavery and migration the cornerstones of the society’s fabric. Leisure is thus closely connected to the ethics of work and individualism. Free time is a domain inseparable from the struggles for dignity of social groups and individuals as well as a tool for exclusion and disciplining.

Students will learn to see leisure as consumption, play, search for the good life and site of deviance. They will be able to characterize the major conceptualizations of leisure (time, experience, commodity, etc.) and apply them to analyzing leisure pursuits (or their representations in popular culture) that they study or simply find of interest. These could be sports, recreational use of drugs, video-gaming, urbex, collecting, scouting, cosplay, vlogging, backpacking, gardening and many more.

Cross, G.S. (2008) Play in America from Pilgrims and Patriots to Kid Jocks and Joystick Jockeys. American Journal of Play, 1(1): 7-46.

De Grazia, S. (1967) Of Time, Work and Leisure. New York: The XX Century Fund. Full text on-line: http://archivesofthecentury.org/myportfolio/of-time-work-and-leisure-by-sebastian-de-grazia/

Hunnicutt, B. (2013) Free Time. The Forgotten American Dream. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Kahrl, A. W. (2008) The Political Work of Leisure: Class, Recreation, and African American Commemoration at Harpers Eerry, West Virginia, 1881-1931, Journal of Social History, Summer.

Kaplan, M. (1960) Leisure in America: A Social Inquiry. New York - London: John Wiley & Sons.

Kelly, J., Freisinger, V. (2000) Leisure, play, and recreation. In: J. Kelly and V. Freisinger. 21st Century Leisure. Current issues. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Lindaman, M. (2018) War and Fitness. In: Idem, Fit for America: Major John L. Griffith and the Quest for Athletics and Fitness. Syracuse University Press, pp. 38-60. (BUW Online)

Maye, A. (2019) No-Vacation Nation, Revised. Washington: Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Mowatt, R. A. (2012) Lynching as Leisure: Broadening Notions of a Field, American Behavioral Scientist, 56(10): 1361–1387.

Nazareth, L. (2007) The Leisure Economy: How Changing Demographics, Economics, and Generational Attitudes Will Reshape Our Lives and Our Industries. Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd. (BUW Online)

Robinson, J. P., Godbey, G. (1997) Time for life. University Park: Penn State Press, pp. 24-56.

Schor, J. B. (1993) The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure. New York: Basic Books.

Scott, D. (2017) Leisure, Consumption, and the Speed Up of Time in the United States. In: K. Henderson and A. Sivan (eds). Leisure from International Voices. Sagamore – Venture, pp. 239-248.

Shaw, S. (2001) Conceptualizing Resistance: Women's Leisure as Political Practice. Journal of Leisure Research 33(2): 186-201.

Snyder, B. (2016) The Disrupted Workplace. Time and the Moral Order of Capitalism. Oxford University Press.

Stebbins R. (1980) ‘Amateur’ and ‘Hobbyist’ as Concepts for the Study of Leisure Problems. Social Problems, 27(4): 413-417.

Stodolska, M., Berdychevsky L., Shinew K. J. (2017) Gangs and Deviant Leisure. Leisure Sciences, DOI: 10.1080/01490400.2017.1329040.

Theriault, D., Mowatt, R. A. (2020) Both sides now: Transgression and oppression in African Americans’ historical relationships with nature. Leisure Sciences, 42(1): 15-31.

Veblen, T. [1899] (2009) The Theory of the Leisure Class. The Floating Press. (BUW Online)

Wajcman, J. (2015) Pressed for Time. The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism. Chicago University Press.

Students will be able to provide difinitions of leisure and present state-of-the-art conceptualizations of leisure.

Students will be able to explain the historical development of leisure in North America, in the U.S. in particular.

Students will be able to trace the impact of race, class, gender, age etc. on accessibility and choice of leisure pursuits.

Students will be able to name and characterize major domains of leisure in America.

Students will perfect their skills of academic writing.

Students will be graded on the basis of the final essay. Essays should be submitted to my email address by the end of the first exam session, i.e. by 4Jul2021. (If the final essay is submitted by the end of the second session in September – ‘sesja poprawkowa’ – 0,5 point will be knocked off the grade; this measure is premised on the principle of equity: students who submit their essays by the end of the first exam session have less time to work on their assignments than those who submit it by the end of the second session). Essays will be graded on a standard UoW 2 to 5! grade scale, where 2 means ‘fail’ and 5! means ‘excellent’.

Detailed requirements: Students will choose a leisure pursuit practiced in North America. The essay’s aims are: (1) to present how this practice is exercised (conditions, actors, tendencies etc.), and (2) to explain/offer an interpretation of what this practice says about American society (the second aim should be achieved through the use of the course literature as well as additional readings, if needed).

The essay should contain references and bibliography in accordance of academic writing state-of-the-art. Essay’s length should be 8-10 standard pages*.

*Standard page is an A4 page with 2,5 margins on all sides with 1,5 interline, font Times New Roman or similar, size 12.

Students who commit any form of PLAGIARISM will automatically fail the course. Please consult e.g. this document for more information:

https://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/files/2614/6642/7700/zero_tolerancji.pdf