A symbolic interactionist model of leisure: Theory and empirical support

Abstract In recent years there has been concern about the need to strengthen the theoretical foundations of leisure research. The premises of symbolic interaction theory may offer a perspective for understanding the theoretical issues of freedom and constraint within leisure. Typical social interaction is characterized by perceived social role constraint, self‐objectification, and inhibited self‐expression; these may be important dimensions that differentiate leisure from non‐leisure contexts. In this study, 18 individuals provided data on 695 real‐life situations in an experience sampling study. Analysis indicated that role constraint and self‐expression explained 43 percent of the variance in leisure. A typology was created by dichotomizing and cross‐classifying role constraint and self‐expression. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of that model suggested that it generated four distinct social contexts: pure leisure, anomic leisure, enjoyable work, and obligatory task. An advantage of this model relative to other models of leisure is the link with broader social theory. This analysis suggests that self‐expression may be the critical distinction between anomic free time and engaging leisure experience.