Leisure
pastimes
The Context of Contemporary
leisure
Ruth V. Russell
Indiana University
Brown & Benchmark
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“Leisure helps to shape who we are as a culture.”
leisure
“Leisure is both a victim and a tool of modernization.”
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What is leisure’s cultural significance?
Leisure is so much a part of the patterns of life that it can describe
how cultures are both similar and different.
leisure’s anthropology
Did the earliest human cultures have leisure?
Contrary to the standard view,
new data suggest that prehistoric people
had abundant free time and spent
it relaxing.
How is leisure unique in technologically
advanced cultures?
In highly developed cultures leisure tends to
be more commercial.
How is leisure unique in developing cultures?
Leisure can be used as a tool for
development. As such, leisure is also
typically changed by development.
DIgital Stock
KEY
TERMS
Cultural anthropology 142
Culture 143
Paleolithic era 143
Modernization I 46
Ethnocentric 146
Philanthropy 148
Turnverein
53
Development 156
Cross-cultural 160
Privatization 160
Animism 164
Ecotourism 170
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In Finland, there is a wide variation in the
amount of daylight and darkness during the year. The day is shortest during
the winter and longest (luring the summer. In midsummer, there are twentyfour hours of daylight, whereas in the middle of winter there are (lays with no
daylight. Tuija Sievanen wrote, ‘In the countryside, where I am used to go at
Christmas time, I developed some kind of a tradition to make moonlight
walks in the late afternoon. The full moon above the white snow landscape is
enough to give light to find the way through the woods and fields” (1987,
23).
Before the massive urbanization of black South Africans into white
South African areas, which began in the 1930s, few parents of black children
had money to buy toys. The result was all sorts of play inventions. The girls
played with dolls made from rags and beads. The boys, sometimes eagerly
assisted by their fathers and elder brothers, made elaborate wire cars, complete
with wheels that could turn and a functioning steering system (Grobler 1985).
With urbanization and increased foreign influences, cheap plastic toys became
available, which brought an end to this fascinating ingenuity.
In Iran, there is a game called Borkum Topa. Several old hats are
needed for the game. To begin, a circle is drawn three feet in diameter on the
ground. The player who is “it” puts a hat in the circle and stands on
guard with one foot on the rim of the circle. Other players try to knock the hat
out of the circle, using their hands and feet. While they try to do this, “it”
tries to tag them. The one who is tagged becomes “it” next. When someone
succeeds in knocking the hat out of the circle without being tagged, the person who is “it” may run away from the circle and tag anyone at all, That person then becomes “it” (Harbin 1954).
A comparison of the number of paid vacation days and holidays each
year specified in union contracts for industrial workers in different countries
reveals some interesting distinctions. Workers in the Netherlands, for
example, receive the most paid vacation days: forty-one days per year. Italian
workers have forty paid holidays each year, and the French enjoy thirty-five.
At the other end of the scale, Japanese workers receive twenty-five paid
holidays, and American workers receive twenty-three (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics 1993).
Cultural anthropology:
the branch of
anthropology that
focuses on the patterns
of life of a society.
In this chapter we consider topics that feature leisure from various
societies
—specifically, leisure from the perspective of cultural anthropology.
The anthropology of leisure is interesting for several reasons, First, recreative
elements from one culture tend to be adopted by other cultures. Particular
games, songs, dances, and crafts introduced in one culture spread to others
and are often changed in accord with the dominant values of the receiving
culture.
For example, Fleider (1977) described a game of physical skill that was
developed in Java (Indonesia) and later introduced in a highland New Guinea
tribe. The New Guinea culture valued noncompetitiveness, so when they
played
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the Java game, they disregarded score keeping and rules. This more casual attitude toward the rules of the game were in keeping with their cultural values.
Second, certain forms of leisure act as tools for maintaining the culture.
For example, traditional games of Native Americans and First Nation
Canadians, such as lacrosse, helped ensure the continuity of tribal groups. In
rural Peru, the daily market is an important focus of social, as well as economic
activity.
Finally, leisure in some cases is a fertile ground for cultural innovation.
Inventions, such as the automobile, were developed in the context of being
playful. In fact, the wheel itself was first important not for work, but as a toy.
For example, excavations of ancient Aztec ruins in Mexico revealed wheeled
pottery toys.
In this chapter, a comparison of the leisure expressions of various cultures
sheds light on a more general interest of how cultures are both similar and
different. We discover that cultural complexity exists in the use of such daily
human experiences as free time, rest, and pastimes.
To begin our travels, we consider the earliest cultures: paleolithic peoples.
The case is made that these people may have been the original affluent society.
Next, we will contemplate examples of leisure in technological cultures, such as
Japan, Germany, and the United States as well as technology’s antagonism to
leisure. Finally, leisure within developing cultures will be explored. Examples
of leisure as a tool for cultural development are presented for the cultures of
Poland, Malaysia, and Costa Rica.
Culture: a set of standards
shared by members of a
social group, which when acted
upon by the members,
produce behavior considered
proper and acceptable.
Hunches about Paleolithic Cultures
Humans are classified by biologists as belonging to the Primate Order, a group that also
includes lemurs, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes. Present evidence suggests that humans evolved
from the small, apelike ramapithecines, which lived between 15 and 8 million years ago. By 4
million years ago, this apelike creature became fully adapted for moving about on its hind legs
in a distinctive human manner, and by 2.5 million years ago the appearance of the earliest Paleolithic era: a period in
stone tools, along with the gradual enlarging of the brain, set the stage for the human of the the Stone Age characterized
by rough Stone implements
present (Haviland 1990). The early tools (found in Ethiopia)were choppers, scrapers, gouging
tools, and hammerstones for cutting meat, scraping hides, and cracking bones to extract
marrow. Their invention marks the beginning of the Paleolithic era, or Old Stone Age, time
of human existence. Scientists estimate that only a few thousand people lived in all of Africa
and a similar number in Asia during this prehistoric period.
For more than 2 million years, people lived by hunting and by gathering plants, for it
was only about 10,000 years ago that people learned to farm. Instead. Paleolithic people lived
in groups and moved From place to place in search of food. A group usually stayed in one
place for only a few days. They ate the animals and plants in the area and then moved on.
They built shelters only if they found enough food in an area to last a few weeks or months.
No one knows when the first clothing was worn. Early people probably didn’t begin to sew primitive clothes until about
17,000 years ago.
In addition to inventing simple tools and clothing, Paleolithic people painted the first pictures. In
fact, they developed several forms of artistic
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expression. They painted on rock, modeled in clay, and engraved antlers, bone,
and ivory. Animals were the most common subject of their paintings, but
Paleolithic artists also painted people. They used four colors: black from charcoal; white from clay and lime mud; and red and yellow from animal blood red
clay, and ground up iron flakes.
Beyond these art legacies, we don’t know much more about the leisure
of people of the Paleolithic era. The standard anthropological view of this
hunting and gathering society is that because they were constantly on the move
in search of food for minimal survival, these people must have lacked the time
for leisure.
Is there another plausible guess about leisure in the Paleolithic era? Marshall Sahlins, in an anthropological study, suggested that prehistoric people
were the original leisure society (1988, 257). Sahlins based this hypothesis on
two recent conjectures. First, Paleolithic people may not have spent as much
time hunting and gathering food as formerly assumed. Second, Paleolithic
people had comparatively few material goods and thus were free from the
labors of protecting and maintaining them. Let’s ponder each suggestion in
turn.
First, Sahlins cited research about two hunter-gatherer groups living in
Australia in the 1960s as examples of what life could have been like for
Paleolithic people. The results are surprising. As shown in figure 5.1, the hours
per day spent by one of the groups in hunting and gathering activities were not
great. The most obvious conclusion Sahlins made from the data was that the
people did not have
Figure5.I The hours
per day spent in hunting and
gathering activities by one of
Sahlin’s groups.
6
5
0
I
3
2
I
1
2
3
4
Day
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
d = 3 hre. 50 miii. I day (average)
9 = 3 hrs. 44 mm. I day (average)
ChapterS Leisure’s Anthropology
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work hard to survive. The average length of
time each person spent per day collecting and
preparing food was three to four hours.
Moreover,
they
did
not
work
continuously. “It would stop for the time being
when the people had procured enough for the
time being, which left them plenty of time to
spare” (Sahlins 1988, 260). what might
prehistoric peoples have done with their spare
time? As indicated in figure 5.2, much of the
time freed from the necessities of foodconnected tasks could have been spent in rest
and sleep. According to Sahlins, other free time activities may have Figure 5.2 Amount of
daytime devoted to sleep.
also included chatting, gossiping, and general sociability.
The idea that Paleolithic people were the original leisure society According to Sablins
hypothesis, free time
also has to do with consumerism. In contrast to the many affluent
activities could have
societies of today, with their focus on materialism, early people
included rest, sleep,
possessed very little. The customary quota of material goods for
chatting, and general
sociability.
Paleolithic people (as it is for today’s remaining hunter-gatherer
groups, such as the Bushmen of Kalahari) was most likely a few
pieces of clothing, portable housing materials, a few ornaments, spare flints, some medicinal
quartz, a few tools and weapons, and a skin bag to hold it all. Contrast this with the collection
of possessions you have! Further, think about all the time you spend -purchasing repairing,
cleaning, putting away, transporting, sorting, finding, protecting, and storing your possessions,
In terms of leisure today, it appears that consumption is a double tragedy. We have to
work in order to purchase material goods and work some more to take care of them. As Sahlins
pointed out, Paleolithic people were comparatively free from material pressures. In fact, they
lived in a kind of material plenty because they adapted the tools of their living to the materials
that lay in abundance around them, free for anyone to take, such as wood, reeds, stones, bone,
and grass, For them (unlike for us), the accumulation and hoarding of objects was not
associated with status. To Sahlins, it is not that Paleolithic people learned how to curb their
materialistic impulses; they simply never made an institution of them. Some might think
hunter-gatherers poor because they didn’t have anything. Another view is to think of them as
rich in the freedom of time.
to
Leisure in Technological Cultures
In this section, we compare the leisure of three modern societies: the United States, Japan,
and Germany. These countries represent what we call the modem cultures of the world:
North America, western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and increasingly the Pacific rim
countries. These cultures arc modern in the sense that they are industrially, technologically,
and commercially advanced,
The point of our discussion is that leisure within the context of modernization is uniquely
expressed, For example, leisure behavior in these cultures
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Modernization: involving
implementation of recent
techniques, methods, or ideas.
Ethnocentric: the belief that
ones own culture is superior
in every way to all others.
tends to be consumption oriented. Because the standard of living is high, people
have large amounts of discretionary money with which to buy leisure goods
and experiences. Before we consider all this, let’s consider the concept of
modernization. The process of modernization might be described as consisting
of four subprocesses: technological development, agricultural
development, industrialization, and urbanization (Haviland 1990). These elements of modernization are interrelated and occur simultaneously. First,
with modernization, traditional knowledge and techniques are replaced by
scientific knowledge and techniques. Likewise, the culture shifts from an
emphasis on subsistence farming to commercial farming. Industrialization is
the third subprocess; work is now done by machines rather than humans and
animals. Finally the population becomes urbanized by moving from rural
settlements into cities.
If we examine this perspective, we realize that modernization is actually
an ethnocentric notion. Looking closely at its definition reveals that “becoming modern” really means “becoming like u~.’ Accordingly, there is a clear
implication that not being like us is to be antiquated and obsolete.
Modernization can also mean undesirable losses of traditional customs.
United States
Occupying over 3,5 million square miles, the United States is one of the world’s
larger countries. Its population is slightly more than 251 million, making its
density approximately sixty-nine persons per square mile. The predominant
languages are English and Spanish. The literacy rate is 96 percent. The gross
national product is over $4,862 billion with a per capita annual income average
of $19,800. The economic growth rate of the United States is 3.8 percent.
Major religious groups are Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish.
While the context of leisure in the United States is peppered throughout
this book, we consider this culture here in an anthropological way in order to
draw direct comparisons. Because the American constitution guarantees every
citizen the right to pursue happiness, the leisure pursuits of the people in the
United States have become recognizable worldwide. Today, Americans have
the reputation of enjoying a recreation-focused lifestyle. We draw our comparisons specifically from the areas of relaxation, mass media, sports, tourism,
outdoor recreation, and volunteerism.
In a guidebook written for first-time visitors to the United States, Americans are described in the following way: Most Americans are eager to assure
non-Americans that they live in a casual, relaxed manner. This may be far from
true, in spite of the American tendency to accept as an article of faith that the
good life is the relaxed one. To Americans relaxing symbolizes having a good
time (as evident in magazine and television advertisements), but relaxing is
exactly what many Americans cannot do very well.
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People from other cultures have generally characterized the leisure habits of people from the
United States as demanding. An Indian married to an American said, “We went to see the Grand Canyon
and as soon as we got there my wife wanted to go rushing down to the bottom. These Americans never.
relax.” (Wanning 1991, 51). People in the United States have a tendency to believe that useful
activities are the most valuable and meaningful. When they do get away from work, their leisure often
seems another form of labor. Americans are busy taking night classes, doing needlework, competing on
a bowling league, leading scout troops, playing cards, reading newspapers, running church groups,
lifting weights, redecorating a room, counting calories and jogged miles, and making holiday
decorations. Weekends are full of camping, skiing, home improvement, and gardening.
Another quality highly recognizable in Americans is the importance they place on mass media. This
reputation may be a bit unwarranted, because the broad pattern of television viewing time in daily life
differs relatively little around the industrialized world. In most developed societies, for example,
people who have jobs spend roughly one third of their time pursuing leisure activities (Szalai 1972). of
this one third of waking free time, the activity that absorbs the most time in all modern societies is
watching television (Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi 1990).
Nonetheless as confirmed not only by studies but from casual observation through the windows of
home after home where the distorted bluish flickering rectangle of television prevails, it is clear that
watching television is the most popular leisure pursuit among Americans. According to the figures of
Mediamark Research, Inc. (1992), 92.8 percent of Americans stated they watch television for an average
of two hours and fifty-one minutes a day. Listening to the radio came next with 84.7 percent stating
they do so daily, followed by reading the newspaper (83.9 percent).
American’s attention to television is supported also by United Nations (1985) figures that indicate
the United States has the highest ratio of television sets to persons in the world with one television to
every i.68 persons. Great Britain is second with one television per 1.96 persons. To compare, there is one
television for every 375.5 persons in India. The United Stares also has the most hours of transmission
and the widest variety of programming. According to Nielsen (1982), at any given moment on any given
evening, over one third of the people in the United States are watching television. On weekday evenings
in the winter, half the population is sitting in front of the TV. The only activities absorbing more time
than TV are sleep and work.
The most popular sport activity in the United States is exercise walking. This is followed in
popularity by swimming and bicycle riding (National Sporting Goods Association 1990). As in many
parts of the world, golf participation is rapidly increasing. For example, in the LI,S, in 1970, 11,245,000
people reported having played at least one round. Twenty yeans later, this number had more than doubled
(National Golf Foundation 1990).
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Philanthropy: a love of
humankind that manifests
itself in donating time,
money, or services to others.
In
sports Americans are primarily known for their enthusiasm for
spectating. This reputation could be partially attributed to the fact that the
United States was the first country to televise sports events. In terms of gate
receipts, horse racing has been the most attended spectator sport in America,
attracting about 64 million people annually (Association of Racing
Commissioners International 1992). This is followed by professional baseball
with over 57 million spectators, college football with 36 million spectators, and
men’s college basketball with 34 million spectators per year. To compare sport
spectating with participation, there are about 24 million golfers and 17 million
tennis players (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1993). Soccer, although the number
one participant and spectator sport in almost every other country in the
world, has not yet enjoyed the same popularity in the United States.
Americans are also fond of traveling. They travel to national parks and
state beaches, theme and amusement parks, resorts, and the homes of
family and friends. Statistics indicate that the number of Americans who
traveled abroad from 1980 to 1990 increased by 50 percent, which is almost ten
times more than the increase in population during that same time (U.S. Census
Bureau 1992). Americans travel widely, but when not visiting within the United
States, they are most likely traveling to Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and China,
Another important quality of the American leisure character is the outdoors. Nearly 50 percent of Americans describe themselves as “outdoors
people,” and another i6 percent consider themselves a combination of indoors
and out. It is a rare American who does not engage in some form of recreation
outdoors (President’s Commission 1987). Collecting mushrooms in the forest,
studying ocean tide pools, fishing along a stream bank, camping, crosscountry skiing, and even a Sunday afternoon drive to admire the autumn colors
have real and symbolic importance to Americans.
Perhaps due to Americans’ rich legacy in the outdoors, literature, art, and
music frequently celebrate it as well. Mark Twain’s tales of Huck Finn’s escapades on the Mississippi River and the adventure stories of Jack London are
famous. Currier and Ives paintings of outdoor scenes, photographs of Yosemite
by Ansel Adams, and Aaron Copeland’s composition Appalachian Spring are
recognizable the world over.
Finally, the American penchant for volunteerism is unique. Since its
founding, the United States has been based on a strong philanthropic philosophy. Americans in the colonies helped each other raise a barn or make a quilt.
During the early 1900s, Americans formed organizations to assist those in
need. Today, close to 38 million people use their free time to help improve the
quality of life of others by working without pay in charitable, religious, community, and other services (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 1990). For Americans, to be of service to others is a satisfying choice of leisure activity.
In summary, the leisure patterns of Americans are wide-ranging, and
sports, travel, and outdoor recreation pursuits are of major importance.
Nonetheless, Americans are more recognized for their pervasive interests in
Part Two leisure as a Cultural Mirror—Societal Context
Chapter 5 Leisure’s Anthropology
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Book Team
mass media and sport spectating. Americans are demanding in their pastimes; there is a strong ethic
that maintains it is best to be busy—to be unleisurely about leisure—which may explain the American
fondness for volunteering.
Japan
Japan is an archipelago of about 4,000 islands extending more than 1,744 miles in the Pacific Ocean,
Its total geographic size of 143,574 square miles Supports a population of about 123 million, or 857
persons per square mile. Adding to a sense of density is the fact that about 67 percent of Japan is
mountainous an(l covered with forest. Seventy percent of the people live on the strip of coastal
plain between Tokyo and the northern part of Kyushu Island, Tokaido, and the Sanyo area. The
language is Japanese, and the literacy rate is 99 percent. The major religious groups are
Shintoist and Buddhist.
In the period immediately following World War II, Japan’s economy was in a state of
devastation. Recovery was accelerated to such an extent that nearly all economic indicators
had reached prewar levels by the mid—1950s (Ebashi 1990). Today, Japan has an economic
growth rate of a bout 4.5 percent; its gross national product is more than $1,843 billion, yielding a
per capita annual income of SI 5.030. This makes Japan one of the most industrialized countries in
Asia,
Since World War II, Japan has come a long way in improving the quality of life for its
people. Due to its present powerful economy and high standard
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of living, along with recent reductions in working hours, leisure activity participation rates are beginning to catch up. For example, the Japanese used to
work about forty-eight hours per week. In 1988, a law was enacted, reducing
the standard workweek to forty hours, primarily by cutting out Saturday work
hours. The annual average number of working hours per person of 2,150 is still
greater than other modem cultures. In France, for example, the average is 1,643
work hours per year. Also, according to the United Nations, Japan leads the
world with the longest life expectancy, meaning that large sectors of the population are enjoying extended retirement years. Thus, “Japan seems to be just
entering a new, more leisure-oriented era’ (Nishino and Takahashi 1989, ii).
Indicators of this new emphasis on leisure are numerous. One is simply
involvements in leisure activities. According to a survey on leisure demand
conducted in 1986, the most popular daily activities are watching television,
shopping, eating out, attending movies, and socializing with friends and family.
Sunday in Japan is for sleeping, spending time with the family, and playing golf
In the same survey, people indicated they would like to do more activities on a
daily basis including sports (such as walking and other light athletics) and twoday or longer domestic trips (Leisure Development Center 1986).
Tourism is very popular in Japan, Dramatic increases have occurred in
the past twenty years in both domestic tourism and travel abroad. For example,
in 1971 the number of Japanese tourists going abroad started to exceed the
number of foreign tourists coming to Japan (Ebashi 1990). Since then, the gap
between the two categories of tourists has widened,
Where do Japanese tourists go when traveling abroad? The most popular
destination is the United States, followed by Hong Kong, Germany, and China.
In characterizing the Japanese tourist, Ebashi (1990) described them as primarily male and between the ages of twenty and thirty years. They prefer package
tours because of language barriers, and they like to travel quickly, wishing to
visit as many places as possible. They are enthusiastic buyers of souvenirs and
take many photographs.
There are other indicators of the new leisure era as well. The Japanese
have recently invested in large scale leisure-related facility development. These
include national parks, craft parks, culture parks, urban ecology parks, cycling
roads, walking trails, and marine recreation areas. Thanks to the passage of a
“resort law’ in 1987, the development of lake resorts, coastal community zones,
and river recreation facilities is also expected to increase (Nishino and
Takahashi 1989).
This development comes with difficulties, however. Land acquisition for
new facilities in urban and suburban areas has been hampered by rising land
prices. For example, in Tokyo, land costs in the past decade have increased as
much as s6 percent (Nishino and Takahashi 1989). Also, the rush to build golf
courses and resorts has taken its toll on the natural resources of the country.
Golf courses have been constructed in steep mountain areas with escalators for
the golfers, and in national parks, like Mt. Fuji, empty cans and other trash have
caused pollution.
(Ihtpler S
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A contemporary concern for the Japanese is that the popularization of Western and modern forms
of leisure is eroding participation in traditional pastimes. While the traditional combative sports of judo
and sumo continue to be popular, baseball has grown to such an extent that the Japanese are now
providing strong competition with major league teams in the United States. Avid lovers of beauty, the
Japanese have a tremendous interest in gardening and nature, but golf in Japan, with over 500 courses,
now ranks fifth in the world. This popularity is in spite of the fact that golf has the potential of changing
the natural beauty of the landscape.
Perhaps this contrast can best be seen through the traditional culture expressed in Tokyo’s parks.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, only 2.4 percent of the city is devoted to greenery, a
scant 4.5 square yards per citizen. That’s not much compared to such cities as San Francisco, which is
32 percent parkland, or London, which is 30 percent greenery. Tokyo’s 2.4 percent however, is
developed to its fullest potential. The city’s greenery has been diced into more than 7,600 separate parks
(Lazarus 1993). While there are several large-scale parks—notably Ueno Park, Yoyogi Park and
Shinjuku Garden—the majority are tucked into small lots between buildings or snaked narrowly through
residential neighborhoods. Because the Japanese people feel a close kinship with nature, these small
areas are greatly appreciated. In certain ways, Tokyo’s parks are like the well-tended rock gardens found
at temples throughout the country. They are pristine. They are peaceful. If you visit one, even for a brief
time, you feel as though you have left the city behind you. In one park, a small bridge is designed in a
zig-zag shape so that evil spirits, which according to mythology turn only with great difficulty, will hop
over the wall and into the water.
Japan offers a glimpse of a culture where leisure expression is rapidly growing. With prosperity has
come more free time and discretionary funds for leisure. This has produced a growth era for leisure in
Japan, one which has not only meant increased participation and developments for recreational pursuits
but also changes in the character of Japanese leisure in a more Western direction. Leisure can be seen,
therefore, as a means for making diverse cultures more homogeneous.
Germany
Combining the formerly West and East German territories, the total area is 137,777 square miles, and
the population is estimated to be 80 million. In the former East Germany, the population density is about
397.4 people per square mile, while in the former West Germany the density is considerably more—640
people per square mile. The language of Germany is German and the major religious groups are
Protestant and Roman Catholic. The literacy rate is 100 percent.
The reunification of East and West Germany in 1989 has had some disappointing effects. While
changing much more slowly than expected, the
Part Two Icisure as a CuIti~ra1 Mirror—Societal Contcxt
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Art/graffiti or, the Berlin
economic standards in Germany as of 1993 included a combined gross national
product of about $1,327 billion with an estimated economic growth rate of 2.7
of and West Germany.
Beth Elliot
percent. Considerable differences still exist between eastern and western
German standards of living. The per capita annual income average of $18,370
in the west and $12,500 in the east are examples. With a 40 percent jobless rate in the east,
the $65 billion a year that the government is pouring into the east has been mostly for
unemployment and welfare payments, as well as make-work and retraining programs.
Nonetheless, Germans have a reputation for pursuing freizeit (leisure) with intensity.
This is even more interesting since the word freizeit it was not coined until about one
hundred years ago (Hintereder 1988). Today, approximately 20 percent of western Germans’
income is used for leisure (Tokarski 1991). Such rapid growth in enthusiasm for leisure is
explained by many factors, including the recent history of working hours in Germany. The
first attempt to regulate working hours was undertaken (in what was then Prussia) in 1839.
According to this policy, workers under the age of sixteen were limited to ten hours of work
a day. In 1910, the ten-hour workday became the norm for all German workers.
After World War II, with West Germany’s rapid economic development, a five-day work
week was adopted and today the typical German worker puts in
Wall fore the reunification
St
Chapter 5 Leisure’s Anthropology
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thirty-five to thirty-eight hours of work per week. For many people, working time
ends on Friday somewhere between 12:00 and 2:00 P.M. Most workers in western
Germany are also entitled to four to five weeks paid vacation in addition to ten
holidays per year. “Since, the middle of the 60’s people in Germany have more free
time in their lives than work time” (Tokarski 1991, 27).
What becomes of these large amounts of free time? For one thing, as in other
industrialized countries, television viewing occupies a considerable portion of time.
It is estimated (Hintereder 1988) that 89 percent of households in western Germany
own a television set, with an average of sixty-one to seventy-two minutes of
viewing per day. Even though people in eastern Germany are grappling with
economic problems, they averaged about fifty-six minutes of TV watching daily in
the 1970s (Ibrahim 1991). Today, with large numbers of unemployed people in the
east and the advent of satellite television reception, it is estimated that people in
eastern Germany are spending even more time watching the TV. This interest does
not seem to have decreased the German enthusiasm for reading, however. The
publishing rate for books is one of the highest among all nations.
During the nineteenth century, Germany was one of the first nations to develop
a strong gymnastics and physical recreation movement (Weiskopf 1975). In the
early post World War II years, however, sport suffered in the western areas under a
stigma left over from the Nazis use of sport as propaganda and paramilitary
training. In an effort to combat an increasingly sedentary way of life, the “Sport for
Everyone” movement developed in western Germany. An interest in fitness and
sport has grown steadily since then, and today, sports are enjoyed by most sectors
of the population. It is estimated that one in every three West Gerrnans belong to
one of the country’s 60,000 gymnastics and sport clubs (Neumann 1985).
In the past, emphasis was on drill, calisthenics, and turnverein type
movements, emphasizing precision and agility. While still very popular, German
physical pastimes are now more than gymnastics. The German people are known
for their avid participation in all forms of sports. In addition to football (soccer),
handball, and track and field, other favorites include hiking, swimming, bowling,
skiing, and tennis. Jogging is also a popular pastime. Many of the sports are
managed by amateur sports organizations and clubs, as well as active for—profit
organizations.
Following World War II in the eastern portions of Germany, sport became an
important tool for building a socialistic society. Along with child and adult
education, and artistic
activities, sport was named in the German Dictionary of Marxist-Leninist Sociology
as an important and productive force in the development of socialism. This did not
mean that leisure was intended as freedom for self-expression, rather its purpose
was to rejuvenate one’s working capacity.
Accordingly, in East Germany, government authorities promoted only certain
leisure activities. In a report published in the late 1960s (Lippold 1972), sport,
traveling, and walking were listed as the most desirable activities for the
Chapter 5 Leisure’s Anthropology
Turnverein:
perform
to
gymnastic
exercises.
153
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people. Actual participation at that time, however, appeals to have been different. The study showed that the young workers ranked sport, traveling, and
walking seventh instead of first, second, and third as the government dc-sired, in
Fact, the average time spent on these three activities was fifteen minutes per day.
Only 15 percent of the persons polled in another study at that time reported that
they participated in sports on a regular basis (Ibrahim 1991). As a result, the
Fast German government began to invest heavily in sport. Under MarxistLeninism it was not considered a mere pastime, but vitally important to the
society’s ability to achieve the goals of socialism. Such government support of
sport helped East Germany become internationally visible in such events as the
Olympics.
In the nineteenth century, Germany established many parks and outdoor
activity areas. Since then, particularly in western Germany, city governments
have developed comprehensive and well-planned systems of both small and
large parks. In the eastern section of Germany, large development projects have
been underway to spread at least a veneer of Western affluence. New hotels,
restaurants, and shopping malls have been the first to be completed. At the same
time, unfortunately, youth clubs and day care centers have closed.
Germans also have a reputation for being fond of music and dancing.
Traditional German music, demonstrating both a love of pleasure as well as
gloom and brooding, has always symbolized the inner emotions of the people.
Jazz became popular in the 1920s, was banned by Hitler, but came back strong
in the west after 1945. In the 1960s, rock music became the symbol of youth
protests and remains so today (Ibrahim 1991). The traditional German restaurants and open-air gardens are also famous for singing, eating and drinking, and
dancing. Festivals and fairs are held throughout the year.
Theater-going is quite popular in western Germany as well—aided by
government subsidies that keep admission costs low. Ballets, operas, and concerts are similarly popular. Films have also been produced in western Gem
many, but following their strict use for propaganda in the Nazi era, have been
slow to resume their former vigor.
In all, leisure in Germany is currently transitional and uncertain. With the
political changes that reunited eastern and western Germany have come harsher
realities of extreme differences in life quality within the same country. This has
had an impact in perhaps two ways. First, the differences in economics,
employment, and abilities for consumption are starkly visible within leisure.
Opportunities for commercial pastimes in eastern Germany lag behind not only
what exists in western Germany, but also what used to exist in the east.
Second, and more worrisome, eastern Germans have recently claimed
feelings of passivity and dependency. Because of the collapse of industry and
jobs in the east, morale is low in eastern Germany. As Kurt Biedenkopf,
premier of the eastern state of Saxony, commented, “We lack comparable living
conditions. Western Germans see the East as a burden they need to unload as
fast as possible. There’s a terrible lethargy here now” (International Herald
Tribune 1993). This state of mind is not conducive to healthful expressions of
leisure.
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Leisure’s Contradiction with Technology
From the invention of the wheel for clay toys in ancient cultures to the perfection of robotic techniques in
modern societies, technology has always had an impact on leisure. For example, vulcanization of rubber
by Charles Goodyear in the 1830s led to the development of elastic and resilient rubber balls for tennis
and golf. The mass production of paper and the invention of the printing press have contributed
immeasurably to the pastime of reading. Technology helped cause a tripling in the last twenty years in
the number of people who sport fish with fiberglass rods that enable amateurs to match the professionals
(Hammel and Foster 1986). We can now ice skate year round, our bowling pins are automatically reset,
and special pockets of air now cushion our feet during jogging. New pursuits have been created by
technology. How would modern children survive without video games or mall walkers without Sony
Walkman’s?
One of the greatest dreams of technological advancement has always been the release from labor.
The postindustrial economies of countries, such as the United States, Japan, and Germany, were
supposed to make possible the growth of the “leisure society” (Gunter, Stanley, and St. Clair 1985). In
such developed nations a combination of increases in free time and a corresponding growth in leisure
facilities and activities is expected to result. The evidence to support this is indeed compelling: shortened
workweeks, longer vacations, the lengthening retirement period, higher annual salaries, and increased
sales of sport equipment.
In the midst of all this, however, are the beginnings of a doubt: perhaps leisure is victimized in a
technological society. For example, there are increasing indications that during the last decade the
amount of leisure time available time has actually declined (Godbey 1989; Schor 1992). Taking the United
States as an illustration, the largest percentage of the population is now in the labor force; overall
employment grew i6 percent from 1979 to 1985 (Godbey 1989), This is due both to increases In women
working outside the home and a higher percentage of working teenagers.
This change is partly associated with an increase in the actual average hours per week worked in
the United States, from 40.6 to 47.3 (Harris 1987), Modernization with its shift toward a service
economy and more salaried workers has meant generally longer work hours. The change is also
associated with an increase in time spent commuting, going to school, studying, and doing yard and house
work. Small business owners, such as retailers, work an average of 57.3 hours per week and professional
people work an average of 52.2 hours per week.
On a more philosophical level, Goodale and. Godbey (1988) also argue that technology is no friend
to leisure. They claim that a large amount of the leisure afforded us today by technology is at best trivial. Modern
society produces a life that is wasted in a frenetic rush for meaningless pleasures. Leisure in advanced
cultures is equated with materialism and consumerism and this is
Part Two Leisure as a Cultural Mirror—Societal Context
Book Team
a sordid route
to human happiness (Trafton 1985). Do you agree? Arguments
can be made on both sides of the issue, of course, but the conclusion remains
essentially identical. Leisure is affected both positively and negatively by
modernization.
Leisure in Developing Countries
Development: a general level
of technology, economic
sophistication, and standard
of living.
Development simply means the extent to which the resources of an area or
county have been brought into full productivity. In common usage it refers to
the amount of economic growth, modernization, and production and consumption of goods. Countries can be identified according to the extent of their
development. For example, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, France, the United
States, and Japan are categorized as more developed, whereas India, Paraguay,
Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Mexico are less developed. These countries
are labeled developing areas.
Developing was the term United States President Harry S Truman introduced in 1949 as a replacement for backward, the unflattering reference then in
use. This term implies that sooner or later, all portions of the world will reach a
highly industrialized stage of development. Development is a fluid condition,
however, so this may not necessarily be the case. Some areas of the world are
unlikely to progress much beyond their current stage. Other areas that are
recognized as developed now could experience economic decay and revert to a
more undeveloped state. While the standard of living in most countries of the
world has improved, a serious trend is the widening of the development gap.
Rich countries have grown richer, and poor countries have become relatively
poorer. It is more difficult now for a less developed society to advance to full
modernization by its own efforts. Thus, such organizations as the Peace Corps
and the World Bank attempt to marshall some of the resources of more
developed areas to help less developed areas.
Development also has implications for changes in traditional social and
cultural structures. While development can enhance an area’s standard of living,
it may be detrimental to other aspects of a culture’s uniqueness. The accumulation of wealth, whether at national or individual levels, is not necessarily a
recipe for a high quality of life.
To illustrate, Norman (cited in Cole 1988) developed an interesting measure of happiness, which she labeled the “hedonometer,” and used it to compare
Great Britain and Botswana. Happiness was measured in terms of psychological
satisfaction, rather than money. Using six principal factors for happiness, her
comparison resulted in the claim that people in Botswana were happier than
people in Great Britain. Upon what basis? Norman’s six factors for happiness
follow:
1. Understanding of your environment and how to control it
2. Social support from family and friends
3. Species drive satisfaction (such as sex and parenting)
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research
Leisure and Nigerian Tribes
Location of Nigeria.
Christopher B. Stage
Nigeria is located along the eastern edge of the
African continent. Its diverse terrain ranges
from southern coastal swamps to tropical
forests, open woodlands, grasslands, and
semidesert in the far north. With a population
of 115 million, Nigeria is the most populous
country in Africa. It accounts for one quarter of
Sub-Saharan Africa’s people. The variety of
customs, languages, and traditions among
Nigeria’s 250 ethnic tribal groups gives the country a rich diversity.
A study (Ekpo 1991) was conducted in Nigeria that presents an example of leisure
in a developing nation and for people with a diversified social, religious, cultural,
economic, and educational background. Three major tribal groups were identified: the
Hausas, the lgbos, and the Yorubas. An in-depth investigation into each tribes’ history,
culture, religion and social patterns was conducted, followed by the distribution of a
questionnaire to 500 people in each tribe. Questions relating to the tribe members’
understanding of free time and leisure involvement and interests were asked.
In all three tribes, more males than females responded to the questionnaires. The
sample included participants who ranged in
age from twenty-five to fifty-five years, were married with children, and employed. Eighty
percent of the participants had at least a secondary school education. The two main
religious practices among the participants were Christianity and Islam.
According to the researcher’s analysis of the findings, as expected, some
differences exist between the tribes in leisure perceptions, interest, and behaviors. These
distinctions are deeply rooted in the religions and cultural backgrounds of the people. As
one leaves the confines of a tribe, however, one observes a nation-wide pattern in the
pastimes of Nigerians. For example, until very recently many Nigerians believed leisure
on a regular basis was an exclusive reserve of the rich who could afford the time and
cost. ‘While this perspective is changing, some constricted views remain, such as for
women leisure rarely exists. It is felt that a conscientious woman would not have time for
leisure as her work is never ending.
The findings on types of leisure activities and amount of leisure time spent also revealed differing perspectives that were less tribe-based and more socio-economic in influence. For example, among more literate groups, free time and leisure have become a
necessary period of each day. What is pursued, however, depends on social class. Common leisure activities in the upper class include overseas tours, sports club memberships, casino gambling. polo, and golf. For middle-class Nigerians, leisure activity preferences include indoor and table games, sports, and spectating. Among lower-class
persons, leisure is desired but infrequently pursued.
Basically, the study revealed that education, occupation, family background, family
size, and residential area greatly influence the Nigerians expression of leisure—more so
than does tribal membership. As it is with the rest of the world leisure in this developing
country is greatly influenced by socio-cultural and socio-economic factors.
Part Two Leisure as a Cultural Mirror—Societal Context
Book Team
Chapter Leisti re’s An tI~r(,p{)h)gv
1