Sheppard: RPTA 180 Class Notes 1
SEMANTICS: LEISURE, RECREATION & TOURISM
leisure (l¶“zhr, lzh“r) n. 1.Freedom from time-consuming duties, responsibilities, or activities. See Synonyms at rest1.--attributive.Often used to modify another noun: leisure time; leisure travel.--idiom.at (one's) leisure. When one has free time; at one's convenience: I'll return the call at my leisure.[Middle English, from Norman French leisour, from Old French leisir, to be permitted, from Latin lic¶re.]
recreation (rk”r¶-³“shn) n. Abbr. rec. Refreshment of one's mind or body after work through activity that amuses or stimulates; play.
tourism (t‹r“¹z”m) n. 1.The practice of traveling for pleasure. 2. The business of providing tours and services for tourists.
(Source: The American Heritage Dictionary (3rd Ed.). CD-ROM
Houghton Mifflin/Infosoft - 1992/1994.)
Semantics
In departments such as ours, we deal constantly with issues of semantics concerning these and other terms. You will learn, or have already learned, about the various and conflicting definitions within our field for these concepts. However, to understand our subject matter and the semantics of what it includes, this section provides a few basic ideas and relationships. This section has its own included reference section.
Leisure, Recreation and Tourism
Any discussion of the inter-relationships (if any) between leisure, recreation and tourism is clearly dependent on the chosen definitions for each of the three.
What is Leisure?
There has been much consideration, discussion and argument concerning the meaning and nature of leisure. A hypothetically average person on the street is likely to define leisure as free time; whatever time is left over after doing all of the things that one is obliged to do. This real world definition, not surprisingly, is also found in dictionaries. However, it is certainly not the only interpretation that has been given.
Kelly and Godbey (1992, pp 14-15) cited the following three general definitions of leisure:
Nonproductive consumption of time. (Veblen, 1899)
Leisure is a state of being in which activity is performed for its own sake or its own end ... And we call final without reservation that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else. Leisure stands in that last class by itself. (deGrazia, 1964)
Leisure is activity - apart from the obligations of work, family and society - to which the individual turns at will, for either relaxation, diversion, or broadening his spontaneous social participation, the free exercise of his creative capacity. (Dumazedier, 1967)
Godbey (1994, p. 5) adds:
Leisure has one and only one essential criterion, and that is the condition of perceived freedom. Any activity carried out freely, without constraint or compulsion, may be considered to be leisure. To leisure implies being engaged in an activity as a free agent and of ones own choice. (Neulinger, 1974)
Kelly (1996, p. 17) cites six types of leisure (Murphy, 1974) including an “antiutilitarian” definition, “leisure as an end in itself, not secondary to work, as self-expression, and as self-fulfilling satisfaction.” He also cites the definition used in The International Time Budget Study (p.18) as “doing things that are not connected with employment or with maintaining home and self.”
Leisure as a state of being can seem rather exclusionary; "Leisure refers to a state of being, a condition of man, which few desire and fewer achieve" (Pieper cited in Kelly & Godbey, 1992, p. 18). To be in a state of leisure implies a long term or continual "absence of necessity" (Godbey, 1994, p.8).
Thus, leisure is variously defined as time, activity, state of mind, or state of being, but an underlying sense of freedom of choice or discretion is common to all, whether it be free time, free choice of activity, sense of freedom, or sense of being free. Godbey (1994, p.11) proposed his own definition,
Leisure is living in relative freedom from the external compulsive forces of one’s culture and physical environment so as to be able to act from internally compelling love in ways which are personally pleasing, intuitively worthwhile, and provide a basis for faith.
An attempt at an inclusive, generalized definition might be stated as follows:
Leisure is any combination of - the time in our lives when we are relatively free to choose our activities (including no activity) both physical and mental, the actual activities that we so choose, the way the activity itself makes us feel, the way we feel about being free to make such a choice and the manner in which we reach that choice, and the way we feel about knowing that we will be and have been free to make such choices.
This is in turn a reflection of my views regarding subjectivity, in this case an individual would be at leisure when they believe themselves to be so, because of some combination of the above.
Recreation
Definitions of recreation can be all encompassing enough as to match definitions of leisure, or be simply “activity in free time” where leisure is simply free time. But there seems some consensus in making it somewhat more limited, still as activity, but as beneficial leisure activity that has a restorative effect in a manner that is somewhat more organized than simple leisure. Kelly and Godbey (1992, p.20) cited Cheek and Burch (1976) who had said, “Broadly conceived, recreation is rationalized leisure; it is the routinization of enjoyment.” Kelly and Godbey’s own definition defines recreation as “voluntary non-work activity that is organized for the attainment of personal and social benefits including restoration and cohesion” (p.21). Kelly (1996, p.12) cited Doel and Fitzgerald (1954) for whom recreation activities were “morally sound, mentally and physically uplifting, respectful of the rights of others, voluntarily motivated and [which] provide a sense of pleasure and achievement.” In short, recreation seems to be active, positive, structured leisure - leisure as “good” activity.
Role Determined Leisure
Kelly (1996) also discusses what might be viewed as a lesser form of leisure; one where choice is not total. Role determined leisure encompasses those activities and times spent in an apparently discretionary way, but while fulfilling family type (non-work) obligations. This would include such activities as attending a child’s school play (when would not have gone if a child was not involved). This argument could logically be extended to role-determined recreation (e.g., coaching little league, father-son/mother-daughter games) and role-determined tourism (e.g., visiting friends and relatives).
Generic Recreation and Travel
Let us go one step further and consider recreational-type activities and travel at their most generic level. It is possible to participate in the same activities as in freely chosen recreation in a family setting (role-determined recreation as above) and also in a work setting (e..g, the company softball league). Similarly the generic term travel (or trip, to avoid commuting) can involve business travel.
Models of the Inter-Relationship
Figure 1a depicts a simple model with one dimension divided into work and non-work (labeled free time) time or activities (can be viewed either way), and a second dimension divided into “home” and “away” (works as either set distance, overnights, or subjective viewpoint). Thus home+work is employment, home+free time is leisure, away+work is business travel, and away+free time is tourism. Figure 1b extends this with the concept of role-determination between work and free time (making the “free” in free time purer) based on obligations of a family nature (could also include non remunerated social responsibilities - volunteerism).
Figure 1aFigure 1b
Figure 2 incorporates recreation into the model, without allowing for role-determination. Thus the pale gray field incorporates all obligated time/activities/states (whichever viewpoint is taken) with the leisure circle being the only area that is truly discretionary/unobligated. Here the generic level travel circle overlaps leisure to form tourism and recreation at a generic level also overlaps leisure to form a “truer” freely chosen recreation. Within the leisure domain (ignoring the rest of the model) tourism and recreation are seen to be overlapping areas.
Figure 2
Greek Semantics
Remember, many of the semantic arguments and theorizing are dependant upon translation from ancient Greek texts and their subsequent copies. We are, of course, considering Greek words somewhat adrift on a sea of contextlessness. Three hundred years of linguistic translation and semantic drift can only further muddy these already murky waters. However, many of our reference points and comparisons are by necessity linguistically and temporally further removed from their home ports. In considering the Greeks, for example, we must trust generations of hearsay evidence, transcription, and translation in a historic game of Chinese Whispers. We only have to consider our present semantic world, where it is often good to be bad and cool to be hot, to appreciate the inherent risks of such a course.
Where leisure is referred to as activity, for example, it has been equated with schole, a Greek word meaning "serious activity without the pressure of necessity" (Goodman cited in Godbey, 1994, p. 4). This argument relies on this linguistic equation.
Godbey pointed out that one should not confuse leisure (as schole) with recreation as the Greeks had another word for recreation or "playful amusement to pass the time." But time-passing playful amusement is a loose fit for any concept of recreation that assumes a more directed attempt at physical or mental renewal. In direct linguistic descent, schole has translated itself into school.
There may, however, be some confusion between leisure as activity and leisure as a state of mind as Dare, Welton and Coe (1987, p. xvii) referred to paidiaand anapasisas amusements and recreation respectively. Godbey (1994, p.4) seemed to be referring to paidia as recreation, whereas Dare, et. al. used anapasis. Dare, et. al. also referred to schole (skole), but as a state of being rather than an activity, so it is hard to accept one definition/translation.
Departments and Programs Such As Ours
Clearly, there are multiple and overlapping definitions for some of our key terms. At Sac State, we have a concentration in Commercial Recreation that incorporates classes in Travel & Tourism and Resort Administration. At Clemson University, for example, the Travel & Tourism concentration includes a class in Commercial Recreation, as well as a Resorts class. With the Resorts classes, hospitality is therefore included in either commercial recreation or travel & tourism. In some schools, a hospitality department might include tourism and/or recreation classes. For example, at UNLV, the Harrah College of Hospitality Administration includes a program in Tourism and there is a totally separate department that includes leisure and recreation studies. We are clearly playing games of semantics.
Similarly, programs such as these may fall into schools or colleges of Health and Human Studies, Human Development, Education, Business, Agriculture, Forestry, Family and Consumer Sciences, etc. Much of the semantics debate at each school is determined by the who, when and why of the program's inception. Programs that are heavy in traditional leisure theory are often in human development colleges, programs that are oriented towards natural resource management are often associated with forestry and agriculture programs, and commercially oriented and tourism-heavy programs are often aligned with hospitality programs.
All of this is intended to give you a better understanding of where you and your degree fit into the world of your peers at other schools. You diploma will state that you have a degree in Recreation and Park Administration and you may list your specific concentration on your resume.
References for the Semantics Section
Dare, B., Welton, G., & Coe, W. (1987). Concepts of leisure in western thought: A critical and historical analysis. Dubuque, IA: Kendal/Hunt.
Godbey, G. C. (1994). Leisure in Your Life: An Exploration. State College, PA: Venture.
Kelly, J. R. (1996). Leisure (3rd Ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Kelly, J. R., & Godbey, G. C. (1992). The Sociology of Leisure. State College, PA: Venture.