Abstract
Leisure and work are cultural universals; all societies in all periods of history have exhibited a continuum of use of time linking these two. In this regard, this chapter covers the subsistence societies and Western societies, including classical Greece, the Judeo-Christian era, the Protestant reformation, the Protestant ethic, and the work ethic. The role of leisure in all this is then taken up, starting with the observation that neither the Protestant ethic nor the work ethic accords a significant role to leisure. The first was particularly strict. Non-work obligation, which in common sense, is subject to being conflated with leisure is examined historically. Down through modern history leisure has been portrayed mostly as villain, forever perturbing the hero of work.
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Stebbins, R.A. (2017). The History of Today’s Legacy. In: Leisure’s Legacy . Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59794-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59794-2_4
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