Leisure studies at the millenium: intellectual crisis or mature complacency?

Abstract

A number of appraisals of the field of leisure studies have been published in recent years, in explicitly 'millennial' publications (eg. the special edition of the Journal of Leisure Research and Jackson and Burton's Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty First Century) and other books (eg. Ken Roberts' Leisure in Contemporary Society) and papers (eg. Cara Aitchison's recent paper in Leisure Studies). Depending on who you read, leisure studies is either in a state of desperate intellectual crisis or basking in a somewhat self-satisfied sense of achievement and progress after 30 years of productive work. Following a review of these and other recent appraisals of the field, it is concluded in this paper that it is possible for a field of study as broad as leisure studies to be in crisis in one part but not in another. It is suggested that 'schools' or sub-fields of leisure studies be recognised, rather than assuming that leisure studies is a unitary whole.