Leisure is much more than what little time is left over after work. Both scholarly publications and popular opinion claim that leisure, at least in industrialized countries, will likely become one of the crucial components in people's lives, eventually resulting in a future society ofleisure. Leisure experience can be objective and/or subjective, long-lasting or brief, planned or spontaneous, and end in itself or therapeutic/compensatory, sociable or solitary. This book reviews all of these aspects. Part One gives a historical overview of leisure, while Part Two examinesdefinitions, disciplinary perspectives, theories and paradigms. Part Three looks at the inequitable allocation of leisure time among various population groups, leisure throughout the three stages of the life cycle, different kinds of leisure activities, and constraints and barriers to leisure. Anextensive list of references to supplement this comprehensive discussion of one of the most important components in people's lives.

Jarmila L.A. Horna's profile page

Jarmila Horna is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary She has taught numerous undergraduate and graduate courses in the sociology of leisure and the sociology of families, and is well-known for a series of articles and book chapters about theinterweave of the work, family, and leisure domains, the asymmetrical division of labour and leisure in the family, and the cross-cultural examination of the family and leisure patterns in Canada and Europe.