Abstract
This chapter explores the role of leisure within the current interregnum, a period in human history that has seen the death of “solid” modernity and the transition to “liquid” modernity. Here, the chapter explains this development and its effect upon leisure, exploring the social theories of Anthony Giddens and Zygmunt Bauman to articulate whether this transition has provided individuals with freedom in their leisure time. It is argued that consumer capitalism causes members of society to become exposed to a negative form of liberty, offering people choice but reducing their feeling of security, inducing social division and alienation. The problems lead the chapter to call for a re-articulation of what leisure represents. A perspective that articulates how leisure time should be used to forge communicative rationalities that provide respect and tolerance is derived from democratic virtues that induce tolerance.
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Swain, S. (2017). Leisure in the Current Interregnum: Exploring the Social Theories of Anthony Giddens and Zygmunt Bauman. In: Spracklen, K., Lashua, B., Sharpe, E., Swain, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Leisure Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56479-5_45
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56479-5_45
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