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Trace the historical development of leisure and show why leisure is important in contemporary society.
INTRODUCTION
Leisure is the type of activity that people pursue in order to have a sense of enjoyment, to be free and for relaxation and mental stimulus. Leisure is the time that one has when not bound to work, study, chores or responsibility in which case one may participate in an activity of their own accord. Leisure can be anything from collecting coins and playing chess to travelling the world or engaging in conversation with your best friend on the telephone. In preparing this essay I must state that what one person may think is leisure may indeed be work or chores for another. ... Leisure is broadly defined because it does in fact depend on an individuals morals, values and attitudes towards the way in which they live their life. So how did leisure develop into what it is today and why is it important to present society.
AUSTRALIA AND THE ABORIGINAL INFLUENCE
Leisure is definitely not a new concept by any means and in fact the themes of leisure have been passed down to our ancestors as far back as 5000BC. Even during the last hundred years or so, the western culture has shifted from a 70 hour to a 40 hour working week which should allow individuals more leisure time. ... There has been a lot of influence from past civilisations in the way leisure is performed today.
Probably the single most influential culture in Australia for leisure was the Aborigines. ... The essence of leisure lies in spiritual celebration (Pieper 1963). The forms of religious activities takes form as singing, dancing, music making and telling stories so these forms of leisure activities firs originated in ancient religious practices (Veal & Lynch, 2001). ... The other influence that needs to be examined is the gender roles in society of the tribal organisation. ... Social groups are subject to continuity and change (Veal, et al, 2001) and this stature is still increasingly clear in contemporary society. The aboriginals gave Australia a huge basis and ideas to the leisure industry as it is today.
LEISURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Most of the knowledge and experience of an ancient civilisation comes from paintings, statuary and hieroglyphics. ... Other recreational and leisure activities were performed in the arts such as drama and dance and they were all some what forms of religious worship. ... Assyrians were also the first to create animal parks called paradises which sounds a little to familiar with a zoo except that royal hunting parties are not carried out in contemporary society. ... They placed a high value on leisure as they saw it as the goal in life. One of the great ancient scholars Aristole saw leisure as a state of being, free from necessity of labour. ...
PLACE OF LEISURE IN SOCIETY
When leisure is being undertaken, a persons most important events in life may occur.
Approximate Word count = 2384
Approximate Pages = 9.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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