Sociology of leisure

This article reviews the topics that have been investigated, the research methods that have been employed, the main theoretical perspectives, agreed conclusions and issues that remain unresolved since this sub-discipline was formed in the 1960s. We see that solid advances in knowledge have been accomplished through research into the relationships between uses of leisure and occupations, gender roles and life course stages. Meanwhile, grand claims about the role of leisure in society have yet to be developed into testable theories about the roles of particular kinds of leisure under specified circumstances. Also, it is only recently that the sociology of leisure has been forced to entertain the possibility that the western version may not be the sole form of modern leisure. keywords age ◆ gender ◆ leisure ◆ life course ◆ social class ◆ time ◆ unemployment ◆ well-being