Downshifting: Regaining the Essence of Leisure

The focus of this essay is to give the reader a brief review of the historical evolution of leisure and its changes through time. I will examine how contemporary notions of leisure have been shaped through the post-industrial revolution resulting in its commodification and consumerism. The intent of this paper is to raise issues of reflection and to propose the downshifting philosophy as a possibility to regain the essence of leisure lost in this postmodern consumer culture. Attitudes toward Work and Leisure Leisure is not a phenomenon of recent modern times (Munn6, 1992). By saying this implies that leisure is a function of work and work in its modern sense is comparatively recent. It is necessary to analyze the meaning and the relationship of work and leisure throughout history to understand their present form. Leisure in the ancient Greek society was defined as the contemplation of the supreme values of the world: truth, goodness, beauty and knowledge. This contemplation demanded a life of leisure defined as "skhole" (Munne, 1992). Skhole was not simply doing nothing, but rather a state of peace and creative contemplation in which the spirit is immersed. Leisure required having time for oneself, therefore, not being subjected to work. Leisure was associated with the upper class and interpreted as absolving individuals from daily labor, and freeing them to engage in intellectual, aesthetic, and civic endeavors. This was possible through the stratification of the society. Only the elite had the time to achieve this higher level of spirituality while the rest of the people had to work. The Romans moved away from the Greek perception of leisure and found in otium (Munne, 1992) the time required to rest, recreate, and recuperate in order to go back to work. In contrast to Greek times, leisure in Roman times did not signify a social status or a way of life, but a time after productive activities. The Greek ideal was inverted and leisure became a device to support work, work was the end in itself. Forms of mass leisure arose during this time through sports and games provided by the ruling class as a means for entertainment. This view of leisure as a complement of work is a concept related to modern times. Leisure in the Middle Ages was not only time to rest and recreate but it became a social exhibition among the higher social strata. In contrast to the Greek philosophy leisure was the abstinence from work and the freedom to choose the activity in which to participate. In the late Middle Ages, leisure began to transform into ostentation, luxury, pleasures, and squander. The use of leisure time became a sign of nobility as opposed to the servile work time. This view coincides with Veblen's (1912) notion of conspicuous consumption. This perception of leisure comes to our modern society as an artificial source of wealth, prestige and power. During the 1700s the Puritan's work ethic was built on Luther's basic beliefs that work and family responsibility was service to God. The Puritans considered leisure as idleness and wasting time. This doctrine gave a religious value to work where idleness was view as a sin This interpretation of leisure became part of the industrial society and remains true at present. The advent of the industrial revolution brought about increases in work time. The main goal was to increase production. The increasing exploitation of the worker led to a worker movement which demanded fewer work hours and more pay. Little by little, a time existed that was extracted from the decreased work time. This is what is call the spare time or disposable time. Historically, leisure had a clear meaning. In Greece, Rome, the ostentatious Medieval times, and the Puritans times, this meaning conditioned the use of leisure time. The essential in each case was the social life. Modern leisure comes from this subtraction of work time not because leisure time is valued but because work has lost its value. …