Transcript Development of Leisure

Development of Leisure
Prehistoric Societies
• People in prehistoric societies were primarily concerned
with survival, hunting and gatherings were the primarily
activities and provided resources to maintain life.
• There was little “free time”
• Work, survival, and rest melded
to become one life-sustaining
activity.
• Once prehistoric people could create tools and were able
to store information in a larger brain, more time became
available.
• This free time was used for ritualization, or ceremonial
acts.
• These acts often focused on
celebrations of successful
hunts, offerings for bountiful
harvests, and beseeching the
gods for their favor.
• It is believed that playlike activities were also critical to
the needs of emerging tribes. These activities depicted
historical events, transportation practices, war games,
and the use of farm tools.
• Play prepared children for their responsibilities as youth
and adults and became a way of achieving solidarity and
morality.
• It also became a healing experience
and a means of communication and
provided pleasure and entertainment.
• As societies emerged, playlike activities were also a
means to relax, recover, and replenish strength after
working.
• These emerging societies also developed structures that
allowed people an opportunity to focus on specific work
roles.
• One could focus on being a hunter, while another could
be a builder.
• With these roles established, greater cooperation
provided people with the resources for activities that did
not relate to sustaining life.
• Thus, for the first time, greater opportunities for leisure
were experienced.
• This is no different from today when people “specialize”
in a particular vocation needed by the society, while
relying on the specialties of others for their own wellbeing.
Ancient Greece
• Ancient Greece (1200-500 B.C.) is an excellent example
of how societal structure influenced the development of
leisure.
• Greek citizens, who could not vote and participate in
state affairs, sought to become the well-rounded ideal of
that era.
• They embraced what was known as the “Athenian
ideal” which was a combination of soldier, athlete, artist,
statesman, and philosopher.
• Rather than focusing on one area of expertise as is
valued today, developing all areas was valued. This was
only possible because of the tasks of everyday living
were provided by laborers or slaves who ounumbered
the citizens approximately three to one.
• Those who were freed from everyday activities had the
opportunity to pursue the range of activities necessary to
become the Athenian ideal.
• Leisure was very important in Greek society.
• The Greek philosopher Plato and his student, Aristotle,
supported this in their belief that virtuous and
constructive leisure activities were the route to
happiness and fulfillment.
• Contemplation, which involved the pursuit of truth and
understanding, was though to be the highest form of
leisure.
• Athenian philosophers strongly believe in the unity of
mind and body and valued each.
• Play was perceived to be essential to the healthy growth of children
from both a physical and social perspective.
• Citizens regarded leisure as an opportunity for intellectual
cultivation, music , theater and poetry as well as political and
philosophical discussions.
• The concept “schole” meant to cease and have quiet and peace. It
meant having time for oneself and being occupied in something for
its own sake, such as music, poetry, the company of friends or the
exercise of speculative faculties.
• Schole embraced the experience and not the outcome. How
different this is from today where the pursuit of an activity is often
valued only if something tangible like a victory, mastery of a skill, or
a specific expectation is gained.
• An important part of ancient Greek culture, and perhaps at odds with
the notion of schole was its passion for games.
• Athletic games were held to celebrate religious rites and heroes for
entertainment and for pleasure.
• Only men played sport and women were often excluded from public
life.
• Four Panhellenic games were very popular among the spectators
and athletes. These included the Olympic Games, the Pythian
Games, the Nemian Games, and the Isthmian Games and are
thought to be held in honor of the gods, although others suggest that
they commemorated the death of mythical mortals and monsters.
• When athletic games were held, wars often ceased so
that participants could compete.
• The early Olympic Games, honoring Zeus included
chariot races, combat events, boxing, wrestling,
footraces, and the pentathlon – a five sport event
embracing the Athenian ideal.
• Athletes also competed
individually, not on teams and
represented their home villages.
This is similar to the modern
Olympic Games in which
participants represent their
countries.
• The early Olympics were an extremely serious even as
well. It was not uncommon for participants in aggressive
sports such as pankration (a combination of boxing and
wrestling) to be encouraged to fight to the death.
• This fate was seen as especially noble because it would
immortalize the competitor in story for generations to
come as having sacrificed his life in the pursuit of victory.
• So important were the Olympics that Athenians would
place an olive wreath on their door when a boy was
born, thus signaling the hope that he would become an
Olympian .
• This seriousness of purpose and the use of leisure time to develop
sport-specific skills are still found today. We “work” at getting better
so we can “play” a sport well.
• Like the ancient Greeks, we claim to value well-rounded people, yet
parents increasingly encourage their children to specialize in one
particular sport, often played year-round, so that they have the
greatest opportunity to become better than their peers.
• It should be of no surprise then that at the time when success in
sports rivals that of the adulation shown to the earliest Olympic
victors, the world finds itself facing an epidemic of cases in which
competitors turn to illegal performance-enhancing drugs to assure
victory.
Ancient Rome
• The emergence of Rome as a dominant society
influenced how leisure was perceived at that time.
• Rome conquered the majority of Europe and Asia after
about 265 B.C. and emerged as a dominant power in the
Mediterranean.
• The Roman Empire influenced the judicial systems and
societies it conquered by attempting to overwrite with its
own culture what had become before.
• The Roman government was based on distinct
classifications of citizens. These included:
– Senators, who were the richest and owned most of the land and
power;
– Curiales, who owned 25 or more acres (10 hectares) of land and
were office holders or tax collectors;
– Plebes, or free common-men, who owned small properties or
were tradesmen or artisans
– Coloni, who were lower-class tenants on lands, and finally;
– Indentured slaves.
• Early Roman slaves were captured in war and served as
agricultural laborers. Much later, large numbers of
captives from Asia, Greece and central Europe became
slaves and were exploited by their owners
• Like in societies that came before it, the opportunity to
participate in leisure during the Roman era was limited to
those who had the appropriate resources.
• The greater one’s standing at this time, the greater the
opportunity for freedom from the daily requirements
necessary to live a comfortable life.
• Senators enjoyed almost unlimited leisure, while coloni
struggled to make a comfortable life. This is not unlike
the present day where distinct economic classes enjoy
varying degrees and types of leisure.
• Unlike the ancient Greeks, who saw leisure as an
opportunity for well-rounded development, Romans
perceived leisure to be primarily rest from work.
• Considering that the Romans were on an almost
constant crusade to dominate foreign cultures, this
viewpoint was necessary and allowed recuperation
before the next crusade.
• Play then served utilitarian rather than aesthetic or
spiritual purposes.
• As the Roman Empire grew and the increasing availability of slaves
decreased the amount of daily work people were required to do,
leisure time increased and was increasingly used as a way to
control the masses.
• During Emperor Claudius’ reign (41-54 A.D.) Rome had 59 public
holidays and 95 game days, and by 354 A.D., there were more than
200 public holidays and 175 game days.
• The reason for this was simple. As Romans became less occupied
with work, they became increasingly bored and critical of the
government. The government then attempted to pacify unrest by
providing pleasurable experiences through spectacle and
celebrations of holidays.
• “Bread and circuses,” free food and entertainment, provided the
framework for Roman society.
• To hold people’s attention, leisure activities became
increasingly hedonistic and shocking.
• When battles between gladiators became less
interesting, animals from foreign lands were brought in to
become part of the savagery seen in the great
coliseums.
• When the scales of those battles became ordinary,
artificial lakes were created by slaves who where then
used to re-create bloody sea battles depicting a
successful conquest.
• This focus on the entertainment of the masses, instead
of their participation, has lead some historians to argue
that one of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire
was its inability to deal with mass leisure.
• This concern is often heard today in reference to current
leisure habits. Increasingly, it appears that people are
more content to be spectators than participants.
• Some sporting events such as football and boxing also
take on the appearance of a spectacle similar to that
seen in ancient Rome. In fact, it isn’t uncommon to hear
the participants in these events referred to as
“gladiators”
Middle Ages
• When the Roman Empire eventually collapsed, the
Catholic Church became the dominant structure in
Europe.
• The Catholic Church rejected the activities that the
Roman Empire had accepted, including its hedonistic
ways.
• One example of this was the fact that people involved in
theater could not be baptized.
• The concept that “idleness is the great enemy of the soul” emerged,
and doing nothing was thought to be evil.
• The church wielded great influence during this time over the social
order, consisting of nobility and peasants.
• The clergy dictated societal values, whose adoption would lead to
saving souls, the highest goal at the time.
• Although the Catholic Church influenced what were acceptable and
unacceptable leisure activities, so strict were many rules during the
end of this period the church went through a period of renaissance
where individuals within the church developed different
perspectives.
• This renaissance saw a renewed appreciation for a variety of leisure
activities.
Renaissance
• Spreading fro the 14th century in Italy to the 16th century
in northern Europe, this era saw power shift from the
church to the nobility.
• Previously ostracized by the church,. Artists were now
supported and encouraged by the nobility to express
their art.
• Play was perceived to be an important part of education.
• During the 16th century, Francois Rabelais (1490-1553)
emphasized the need for physical exercise and games.
• Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-159) supported the
concept of unity of mind, body and spirit, opposing the
medieval ideal of separation or dualism of the mind and
body.
• John Locke (1632-1704) was so concerned with play as
a medium of learning that he made the distinction
between play and recreation.
• Recreation was not being idle, it provided a specific
benefit by easing and helping to recover the people
wearied by their work.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) advocated for the
full freedom of physical activity rather than constraint.
• It was during the renaissance that an increased interest
in play, both as a form of popular entertainment and as a
medium of education, developed.
• Three types of parks emerged during the late
Renaissance under the nobility:
– Royal hunting preserves providing wild-game hunting.
– Formal garden parks where participants viewed their
surroundings much as you would experience a museum, and
– English garden parks with greater emphasis on interacting with
the environment through activities such as picnics and other
restful pursuits.
• These parks, developed by the nobility for their own use,
were often seen as symbol of status.