Robert W. Fogel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199226801
- eISBN:
- 9780191710285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226801.003.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Pensions and Pension Management
This foreword provides an overview of demographic development during the past three centuries, as life expectancy and per-capita growth of GDP have increased dramatically. Due to the intense ...
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This foreword provides an overview of demographic development during the past three centuries, as life expectancy and per-capita growth of GDP have increased dramatically. Due to the intense interplay between physiological improvement and technological advances, humans have increased their body size by more than 50% in the past two centuries, and the betterment of general sanitation, reduction of air pollution in the cities, and higher food intake have improved life expectancy. It is argued that demographers have consistently underestimated the impact of such improvements and, consequently, have underestimated gains in life expectancy. With more workers living longer and healthier lives, men in Western countries have four times more leisure than they did a century ago, and this trend will continue. This achievement has devastating financial implications for already overburdened social security systems and calls for a careful re-examination of social security to ensure future sustainability.Less
This foreword provides an overview of demographic development during the past three centuries, as life expectancy and per-capita growth of GDP have increased dramatically. Due to the intense interplay between physiological improvement and technological advances, humans have increased their body size by more than 50% in the past two centuries, and the betterment of general sanitation, reduction of air pollution in the cities, and higher food intake have improved life expectancy. It is argued that demographers have consistently underestimated the impact of such improvements and, consequently, have underestimated gains in life expectancy. With more workers living longer and healthier lives, men in Western countries have four times more leisure than they did a century ago, and this trend will continue. This achievement has devastating financial implications for already overburdened social security systems and calls for a careful re-examination of social security to ensure future sustainability.
Cindy S. Aron
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195142341
- eISBN:
- 9780199849024
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195142341.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, Social History
While technology has made it too easy to carry our work with us, it does not entirely explain why work intrudes into leisure. We could, after all, choose to leave our cell phones and laptops behind. ...
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While technology has made it too easy to carry our work with us, it does not entirely explain why work intrudes into leisure. We could, after all, choose to leave our cell phones and laptops behind. That many do not speaks of the variety of ways in which leisure and labor remain connected. For some people, the demands of the job require that they make themselves available even while on vacation. While work that spills over into leisure was not a problem that our forbears faced, contemporary vacation habits in the United States nevertheless reveal the legacy of the 19th century—particularly its discomfort with and suspicion of leisure. Consider, for example, the relatively limited amount of time that Americans spend vacationing. Up until about ten years ago most companies allowed workers two weeks of paid vacation a year. Recently, vacation policies have liberalized somewhat. The tension between work and play with which American culture struggled in the 19th century and early 20th century has taken on some new guises, but flourishes still.Less
While technology has made it too easy to carry our work with us, it does not entirely explain why work intrudes into leisure. We could, after all, choose to leave our cell phones and laptops behind. That many do not speaks of the variety of ways in which leisure and labor remain connected. For some people, the demands of the job require that they make themselves available even while on vacation. While work that spills over into leisure was not a problem that our forbears faced, contemporary vacation habits in the United States nevertheless reveal the legacy of the 19th century—particularly its discomfort with and suspicion of leisure. Consider, for example, the relatively limited amount of time that Americans spend vacationing. Up until about ten years ago most companies allowed workers two weeks of paid vacation a year. Recently, vacation policies have liberalized somewhat. The tension between work and play with which American culture struggled in the 19th century and early 20th century has taken on some new guises, but flourishes still.
James Buzard
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122760
- eISBN:
- 9780191671531
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122760.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This book is a major study of European tourism during the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. The author demonstrates the ways in which the distinction between tourist ...
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This book is a major study of European tourism during the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. The author demonstrates the ways in which the distinction between tourist and traveller has developed and how the circulation of the two terms influenced how nineteenth- and twentieth-century writers on Europe viewed themselves and presented themselves in writing. Drawing upon a wide range of texts from literature, travel writing, guidebooks, periodicals, and business histories, the book shows how a democratizing and institutionalizing tourism gave rise to new formulations about what constitutes ‘authentic’ cultural experience. Authentic culture was represented as being in the secret precincts of the ‘beaten track’ where it could be discovered only by the sensitive true traveller and not the vulgar tourist. Major writers such as Byron, Wordsworth, Frances Trollope, Dickens, Henry James, and Forster are examined in the light of the influential Murray and Baedeker guide books. This elegantly written book draws links with debates in cultural studies concerning the ideology of leisure and concludes that in this period tourism became an exemplary cultural practice appearing to be both popularly accessible and exclusive.Less
This book is a major study of European tourism during the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. The author demonstrates the ways in which the distinction between tourist and traveller has developed and how the circulation of the two terms influenced how nineteenth- and twentieth-century writers on Europe viewed themselves and presented themselves in writing. Drawing upon a wide range of texts from literature, travel writing, guidebooks, periodicals, and business histories, the book shows how a democratizing and institutionalizing tourism gave rise to new formulations about what constitutes ‘authentic’ cultural experience. Authentic culture was represented as being in the secret precincts of the ‘beaten track’ where it could be discovered only by the sensitive true traveller and not the vulgar tourist. Major writers such as Byron, Wordsworth, Frances Trollope, Dickens, Henry James, and Forster are examined in the light of the influential Murray and Baedeker guide books. This elegantly written book draws links with debates in cultural studies concerning the ideology of leisure and concludes that in this period tourism became an exemplary cultural practice appearing to be both popularly accessible and exclusive.
S. A. Mileson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199565672
- eISBN:
- 9780191721748
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199565672.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This concluding chapter provides a summation of the main findings of the book as a whole. Parks were much more important to the concerns of the aristocracy than has usually been suggested, and they ...
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This concluding chapter provides a summation of the main findings of the book as a whole. Parks were much more important to the concerns of the aristocracy than has usually been suggested, and they had a strong, and often negative, effect on many rural communities and some urban ones. The central place of hunting in the creation of parks is emphasized, along with the significance of organized hunting as an expression of power and authority. It is also suggested that an interest in leisure, as expressed through the reservation of land for hunting, had an impact on the extent to which lords organized their estates in a commercial or market-focused way. The negotiations and confrontations that surrounded parks are shown to have been an important part of the early history of enclosure, a process that involved the shaping of social norms as well as of agrarian practices.Less
This concluding chapter provides a summation of the main findings of the book as a whole. Parks were much more important to the concerns of the aristocracy than has usually been suggested, and they had a strong, and often negative, effect on many rural communities and some urban ones. The central place of hunting in the creation of parks is emphasized, along with the significance of organized hunting as an expression of power and authority. It is also suggested that an interest in leisure, as expressed through the reservation of land for hunting, had an impact on the extent to which lords organized their estates in a commercial or market-focused way. The negotiations and confrontations that surrounded parks are shown to have been an important part of the early history of enclosure, a process that involved the shaping of social norms as well as of agrarian practices.
Lara Deeb and Mona Harb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153650
- eISBN:
- 9781400848560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153650.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
The preceding chapters showed how ideas about morality, space, and place come together to create specific forms of leisure for more or less pious Shi'i Muslim residents of south Beirut. Choices about ...
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The preceding chapters showed how ideas about morality, space, and place come together to create specific forms of leisure for more or less pious Shi'i Muslim residents of south Beirut. Choices about leisure activities and places are informed by different moral rubrics, as people negotiate social norms, religious tenets, and political loyalties. Pastimes and their settings are assessed according to ideas about where they are located and how their patrons behave—ideas built on assumptions about the relationship between morality and geography in the city. Yet how and where a person hangs out is also an expression of personal taste. This chapter brings taste into the picture and discusses how Dahiya's new leisure sites and practices are valued along with how judgments about class, morality, geography, and politics work together to produce ideas about taste and social hierarchy. It concludes by thinking through the question of whether changing leisure practices and spaces can lead to broader social, political, and urban change.Less
The preceding chapters showed how ideas about morality, space, and place come together to create specific forms of leisure for more or less pious Shi'i Muslim residents of south Beirut. Choices about leisure activities and places are informed by different moral rubrics, as people negotiate social norms, religious tenets, and political loyalties. Pastimes and their settings are assessed according to ideas about where they are located and how their patrons behave—ideas built on assumptions about the relationship between morality and geography in the city. Yet how and where a person hangs out is also an expression of personal taste. This chapter brings taste into the picture and discusses how Dahiya's new leisure sites and practices are valued along with how judgments about class, morality, geography, and politics work together to produce ideas about taste and social hierarchy. It concludes by thinking through the question of whether changing leisure practices and spaces can lead to broader social, political, and urban change.
Philippe Van Parijs
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198293576
- eISBN:
- 9780191600074
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198293577.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
By giving to all as high an unconditional income as possible, is one not violating liberal neutrality by favouring leisure and sanctioning consumption? One would be if the taxation needed to fund the ...
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By giving to all as high an unconditional income as possible, is one not violating liberal neutrality by favouring leisure and sanctioning consumption? One would be if the taxation needed to fund the basic income could legitimately be seen as the extraction of part of the outcome of nothing but the workers’ effort. But it cannot. Reflecting on the message of efficiency‐wage theories of unemployment leads one to view it instead as a fee on the appropriation of assets very unequally divided between us: jobs.Less
By giving to all as high an unconditional income as possible, is one not violating liberal neutrality by favouring leisure and sanctioning consumption? One would be if the taxation needed to fund the basic income could legitimately be seen as the extraction of part of the outcome of nothing but the workers’ effort. But it cannot. Reflecting on the message of efficiency‐wage theories of unemployment leads one to view it instead as a fee on the appropriation of assets very unequally divided between us: jobs.
Brian Barry
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198280088
- eISBN:
- 9780191599927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280084.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Brian Barry examines the idea that the demands of justice in a given society can be ascertained by interpreting the shared understandings of the meanings of the goods that are to be distributed. ...
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Brian Barry examines the idea that the demands of justice in a given society can be ascertained by interpreting the shared understandings of the meanings of the goods that are to be distributed. Focusing on Michael Walzer's claims regarding the meanings of such goods as money, health, and leisure, Barry argues that for meanings to determine the uniquely right distributions, the criteria of distribution need to be built into the meanings. He criticizes the implications of Walzer's theory for thinking about global justice.Less
Brian Barry examines the idea that the demands of justice in a given society can be ascertained by interpreting the shared understandings of the meanings of the goods that are to be distributed. Focusing on Michael Walzer's claims regarding the meanings of such goods as money, health, and leisure, Barry argues that for meanings to determine the uniquely right distributions, the criteria of distribution need to be built into the meanings. He criticizes the implications of Walzer's theory for thinking about global justice.
Kaare Strøm, Wolfgang C. Müller, and Torbjörn Bergman
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198297840
- eISBN:
- 9780191602016
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829784X.003.0023
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
In this chapter, we take a closer look at democratic accountability outcomes. The evidence strongly and broadly suggests that cohesive and competitive political parties and governments help reduce ...
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In this chapter, we take a closer look at democratic accountability outcomes. The evidence strongly and broadly suggests that cohesive and competitive political parties and governments help reduce the risks of democratic delegation. Specifically, executive cohesion strongly and significantly reduces the risks of corruption and fiscal indiscipline. Party competition, on the other hand, reduces rent extraction and promotes general satisfaction with democracy. The rest of the chapter reviews the broader lessons of this study, with respect to parliamentary democracy, parliamentary governance, political institutions, and the gap between citizens and their political representatives.Less
In this chapter, we take a closer look at democratic accountability outcomes. The evidence strongly and broadly suggests that cohesive and competitive political parties and governments help reduce the risks of democratic delegation. Specifically, executive cohesion strongly and significantly reduces the risks of corruption and fiscal indiscipline. Party competition, on the other hand, reduces rent extraction and promotes general satisfaction with democracy. The rest of the chapter reviews the broader lessons of this study, with respect to parliamentary democracy, parliamentary governance, political institutions, and the gap between citizens and their political representatives.
Richard Coopey and Peter Lyth (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199226009
- eISBN:
- 9780191710315
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226009.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
This book brings together chapters from the leading historians of British business. The contributors were asked to consider the renaissance in the British economy during the closing decades of the ...
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This book brings together chapters from the leading historians of British business. The contributors were asked to consider the renaissance in the British economy during the closing decades of the 20th century. In doing so they were also asked to reconsider the debates and assertions relating to relative economic decline in Britain since the end of the 19th century. Chapters range across the economy, from banking, retail, high technology and staple industries, transport, to sports and leisure industries. In addition, key themes such as foreign investment, government policy, managerial characteristics, marketing, business, ethics, and so on have their own chapters. What emerges is a picture of complexity and reappraisal bringing into question the accuracy or applicability of much of the writing and axioms surrounding British business in the 20th century. Both the nature of economic recovery, the depth and periodization of relative decline clearly do not stand up to scrutiny. If nothing else the book disposes with the notion that a simple re-injection of market forces ideology in the 1980s changed and modernised the British economy. The book has identified both a need for a broad reappraisal to take into account the complexity underlying ideas of renaissance in the late 20th century, in addition to a need to reject unicausal explanations for the fate and possibilities of the British economy in the 21st century.Less
This book brings together chapters from the leading historians of British business. The contributors were asked to consider the renaissance in the British economy during the closing decades of the 20th century. In doing so they were also asked to reconsider the debates and assertions relating to relative economic decline in Britain since the end of the 19th century. Chapters range across the economy, from banking, retail, high technology and staple industries, transport, to sports and leisure industries. In addition, key themes such as foreign investment, government policy, managerial characteristics, marketing, business, ethics, and so on have their own chapters. What emerges is a picture of complexity and reappraisal bringing into question the accuracy or applicability of much of the writing and axioms surrounding British business in the 20th century. Both the nature of economic recovery, the depth and periodization of relative decline clearly do not stand up to scrutiny. If nothing else the book disposes with the notion that a simple re-injection of market forces ideology in the 1980s changed and modernised the British economy. The book has identified both a need for a broad reappraisal to take into account the complexity underlying ideas of renaissance in the late 20th century, in addition to a need to reject unicausal explanations for the fate and possibilities of the British economy in the 21st century.
Keith Robbins
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198263715
- eISBN:
- 9780191714283
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263715.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Church History
This chapter considers who did and did not go to church (and why), at a time when the UK was at war at the beginning of the century. It notes various steps to bridge the gap between the classes — ...
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This chapter considers who did and did not go to church (and why), at a time when the UK was at war at the beginning of the century. It notes various steps to bridge the gap between the classes — establishing ‘Settlements’ in big cities. It notes the problems of poverty but also the threat posed to the ‘Victorian Sunday’ by increased ‘leisure’. It examines the social gospel and different views on the nature and role of the state (for example, in relation to education). It observes the extent to which the male-dominated churches reacted to female militancy (Suffragettes). It notes the continuing struggles between the churches (and also within them) as well as interest in ‘unity’. It was time, some thought, to construct a new theology. The UK was itself in a political crisis which, in Ireland, had a religious dimension.Less
This chapter considers who did and did not go to church (and why), at a time when the UK was at war at the beginning of the century. It notes various steps to bridge the gap between the classes — establishing ‘Settlements’ in big cities. It notes the problems of poverty but also the threat posed to the ‘Victorian Sunday’ by increased ‘leisure’. It examines the social gospel and different views on the nature and role of the state (for example, in relation to education). It observes the extent to which the male-dominated churches reacted to female militancy (Suffragettes). It notes the continuing struggles between the churches (and also within them) as well as interest in ‘unity’. It was time, some thought, to construct a new theology. The UK was itself in a political crisis which, in Ireland, had a religious dimension.
Dick Hobbs, Philip Hadfield, Stuart Lister, and Simon Winlow
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199288007
- eISBN:
- 9780191700484
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288007.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
In recent years, the expansion of night-time leisure has emerged as a key indicator of post-industrial urban prosperity, attracting investment, creating employment and re-generating the built ...
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In recent years, the expansion of night-time leisure has emerged as a key indicator of post-industrial urban prosperity, attracting investment, creating employment and re-generating the built environment. These leisure economies are youth-dominated, focusing upon the sale and consumption of alcohol. Unprecedented numbers of young people now flock to town centres that are crammed with bars, pubs and clubs, and the resulting violent disorder has over-run police resources that remain geared to the drinking patterns and alcohol cultures of previous generations. Post-industrial re-structuring has spawned an increasingly complex mass of night-time leisure options through which numerous licit and illicit commercial opportunities flow. Yet, regardless of the fashionable and romantic notions of many contemporary urban theorists, it is alcohol, mass intoxication and profit rather than ‘cultural regeneration,’ which lies at the heart of this rapidly expanding dimension of post-industrial urbanism. Private security in the bulky form of bouncers fills the void left by the public police. These men (only 7% are women), whose activities are barely regulated by the State, are dominated by a powerful subculture rooted in routine violence and intimidation. Using ethnography, participant observation and extensive interviews with all the main players, this book charts the emergence of the bouncer as one of the most graphic symbols in the iconography of post-industrial Britain.Less
In recent years, the expansion of night-time leisure has emerged as a key indicator of post-industrial urban prosperity, attracting investment, creating employment and re-generating the built environment. These leisure economies are youth-dominated, focusing upon the sale and consumption of alcohol. Unprecedented numbers of young people now flock to town centres that are crammed with bars, pubs and clubs, and the resulting violent disorder has over-run police resources that remain geared to the drinking patterns and alcohol cultures of previous generations. Post-industrial re-structuring has spawned an increasingly complex mass of night-time leisure options through which numerous licit and illicit commercial opportunities flow. Yet, regardless of the fashionable and romantic notions of many contemporary urban theorists, it is alcohol, mass intoxication and profit rather than ‘cultural regeneration,’ which lies at the heart of this rapidly expanding dimension of post-industrial urbanism. Private security in the bulky form of bouncers fills the void left by the public police. These men (only 7% are women), whose activities are barely regulated by the State, are dominated by a powerful subculture rooted in routine violence and intimidation. Using ethnography, participant observation and extensive interviews with all the main players, this book charts the emergence of the bouncer as one of the most graphic symbols in the iconography of post-industrial Britain.
Pamela Walker
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520225916
- eISBN:
- 9780520925854
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520225916.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Those people in uniforms who ring bells and raise money for the poor during the holiday season belong to a religious movement that in 1865 combined early feminism, street preaching, holiness ...
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Those people in uniforms who ring bells and raise money for the poor during the holiday season belong to a religious movement that in 1865 combined early feminism, street preaching, holiness theology, and intentionally outrageous singing into what soon became the Salvation Army. This book emphasizes how thoroughly the Army entered into nineteenth-century urban life. It follows the movement from its Methodist roots and East London origins through its struggles with the established denominations of England, problems with the law and the media, and public manifestations that included street brawls with working-class toughs. The Salvation Army was a neighborhood religion, with a “battle plan” especially suited to urban working-class geography and cultural life. The ability to use popular leisure activities as inspiration was a major factor in the Army's success, since pubs, music halls, sports, and betting were regarded as its principal rivals. Salvationist women claimed the “right to preach” and enjoyed spiritual authority and public visibility more extensively than in virtually any other religious or secular organization. Opposition to the new movement was equally energetic and took many forms, but even as contemporary music hall performers ridiculed the “Hallelujah Lasses,” the Salvation Army was spreading across Great Britain and the Continent, and on to North America. The Army offered a distinctive response to the dilemmas facing Victorian Christians, in particular the relationship between what Salvationists believed and the work they did. The book fills in the social, cultural, and religious contexts that make that relationship come to life.Less
Those people in uniforms who ring bells and raise money for the poor during the holiday season belong to a religious movement that in 1865 combined early feminism, street preaching, holiness theology, and intentionally outrageous singing into what soon became the Salvation Army. This book emphasizes how thoroughly the Army entered into nineteenth-century urban life. It follows the movement from its Methodist roots and East London origins through its struggles with the established denominations of England, problems with the law and the media, and public manifestations that included street brawls with working-class toughs. The Salvation Army was a neighborhood religion, with a “battle plan” especially suited to urban working-class geography and cultural life. The ability to use popular leisure activities as inspiration was a major factor in the Army's success, since pubs, music halls, sports, and betting were regarded as its principal rivals. Salvationist women claimed the “right to preach” and enjoyed spiritual authority and public visibility more extensively than in virtually any other religious or secular organization. Opposition to the new movement was equally energetic and took many forms, but even as contemporary music hall performers ridiculed the “Hallelujah Lasses,” the Salvation Army was spreading across Great Britain and the Continent, and on to North America. The Army offered a distinctive response to the dilemmas facing Victorian Christians, in particular the relationship between what Salvationists believed and the work they did. The book fills in the social, cultural, and religious contexts that make that relationship come to life.
Lara Deeb and Mona Harb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153650
- eISBN:
- 9781400848560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153650.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the popularity of the Bab al-Hara café in south Beirut, an area often maligned in the U.S. press as “the Hizbullah stronghold” and known ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the popularity of the Bab al-Hara café in south Beirut, an area often maligned in the U.S. press as “the Hizbullah stronghold” and known in Lebanon as Dahiya. The café exemplifies many of the shifting features of leisure in south Beirut, and highlights many of the new ideas and practices of morality as well as geography that have emerged in this Shi'i-majority area of the city over the past decade. The chapter suggests that these cafés provide new spaces for leisure that are promoting flexibility in moral norms. The circumstances that both new spaces and desires for leisure provoke highlight tensions between religious and social notions about what is moral. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the popularity of the Bab al-Hara café in south Beirut, an area often maligned in the U.S. press as “the Hizbullah stronghold” and known in Lebanon as Dahiya. The café exemplifies many of the shifting features of leisure in south Beirut, and highlights many of the new ideas and practices of morality as well as geography that have emerged in this Shi'i-majority area of the city over the past decade. The chapter suggests that these cafés provide new spaces for leisure that are promoting flexibility in moral norms. The circumstances that both new spaces and desires for leisure provoke highlight tensions between religious and social notions about what is moral. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Lara Deeb and Mona Harb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153650
- eISBN:
- 9781400848560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153650.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter explains the history of the Islamic milieu, and describes its changing relationship to Dahiya and a new generation of pious Shi'i Muslims. This history will provide an understanding of ...
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This chapter explains the history of the Islamic milieu, and describes its changing relationship to Dahiya and a new generation of pious Shi'i Muslims. This history will provide an understanding of how political contingency, urbanization, economic mobility, and generational shifts have combined to produce an environment ripe for the development of leisure. It also considers transnational influences on leisure, and a general sense of the infitah, or “opening up,” of Hizbullah and Dahiya as conditions for these new leisure desires and sites. The most visible of these changes is of course Hizbullah's popularity along with its incorporation into the social and spatial fabric of Dahiya and Lebanon.Less
This chapter explains the history of the Islamic milieu, and describes its changing relationship to Dahiya and a new generation of pious Shi'i Muslims. This history will provide an understanding of how political contingency, urbanization, economic mobility, and generational shifts have combined to produce an environment ripe for the development of leisure. It also considers transnational influences on leisure, and a general sense of the infitah, or “opening up,” of Hizbullah and Dahiya as conditions for these new leisure desires and sites. The most visible of these changes is of course Hizbullah's popularity along with its incorporation into the social and spatial fabric of Dahiya and Lebanon.
Lara Deeb and Mona Harb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153650
- eISBN:
- 9781400848560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153650.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter discusses the three types of major players—political, religious, and economic—involved in producing and controlling leisure sites in south Beirut. All three types of players are ...
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This chapter discusses the three types of major players—political, religious, and economic—involved in producing and controlling leisure sites in south Beirut. All three types of players are conceiving leisure spaces, and to varying extents, feel responsible for ensuring that their customers abide by particular moral norms. On the political front, the Hizbullah plays a wide variety of roles in creating leisure for the Islamic milieu, ranging from directly producing sites to co-opting existing sites to, most commonly, facilitating and supporting private entrepreneurs who abide by what are perceived to be appropriate moral standards. On the religious front, the importance of following a marja' (religious scholar), and indeed even knowledge of the term and institution, has increased considerably since the 1980s. On the economic front, leisure in south Beirut is predominantly a private sector phenomenon. Almost all the cafés and restaurants are owned and managed by private and independent entrepreneurs, often in partnership ventures.Less
This chapter discusses the three types of major players—political, religious, and economic—involved in producing and controlling leisure sites in south Beirut. All three types of players are conceiving leisure spaces, and to varying extents, feel responsible for ensuring that their customers abide by particular moral norms. On the political front, the Hizbullah plays a wide variety of roles in creating leisure for the Islamic milieu, ranging from directly producing sites to co-opting existing sites to, most commonly, facilitating and supporting private entrepreneurs who abide by what are perceived to be appropriate moral standards. On the religious front, the importance of following a marja' (religious scholar), and indeed even knowledge of the term and institution, has increased considerably since the 1980s. On the economic front, leisure in south Beirut is predominantly a private sector phenomenon. Almost all the cafés and restaurants are owned and managed by private and independent entrepreneurs, often in partnership ventures.
Lara Deeb and Mona Harb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153650
- eISBN:
- 9781400848560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153650.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Prior to 2000, Dahiya had a few pizza places scattered along some of its commercial streets that functioned like the local man'oushe and fast-food stands. With the introduction of the Internet in ...
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Prior to 2000, Dahiya had a few pizza places scattered along some of its commercial streets that functioned like the local man'oushe and fast-food stands. With the introduction of the Internet in Lebanon, businesses providing access appeared across Beirut, including in Dahiya. Initially, Internet access was incorporated into the “amusement centers” where young men played pool and computer games. Eventually, some of these gaming centers became small cybercafés, providing Wi-Fi along with wired desktop computers, food, and drinks. Over time, they attracted an increasingly mixed clientele of youths. This chapter provides a geographic analysis of these new leisure sites, mapping them onto Dahiya's streets and neighborhoods, and comparing their architectural design and aesthetic features.Less
Prior to 2000, Dahiya had a few pizza places scattered along some of its commercial streets that functioned like the local man'oushe and fast-food stands. With the introduction of the Internet in Lebanon, businesses providing access appeared across Beirut, including in Dahiya. Initially, Internet access was incorporated into the “amusement centers” where young men played pool and computer games. Eventually, some of these gaming centers became small cybercafés, providing Wi-Fi along with wired desktop computers, food, and drinks. Over time, they attracted an increasingly mixed clientele of youths. This chapter provides a geographic analysis of these new leisure sites, mapping them onto Dahiya's streets and neighborhoods, and comparing their architectural design and aesthetic features.
Lara Deeb and Mona Harb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153650
- eISBN:
- 9781400848560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153650.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Cafés are places where people are essentially forced to take a stance on the morality of specific activities, not only by choosing whether to partake, but also by passively accepting others' ...
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Cafés are places where people are essentially forced to take a stance on the morality of specific activities, not only by choosing whether to partake, but also by passively accepting others' participation in their presence. Because many of the moral “rules” about the sorts of things one can do in a café—like listen to music or smoke argileh—are not clear-cut, cafés require people to navigate complex moral terrain in order to have fun while feeling good about themselves. This chapter takes up a number of these debatable activities in order to show how more or less pious Shi'i Muslims, especially youths, employ moral flexibility in their discourses and practices of leisure. In some cases, people negotiate among different rubrics of morality, while in others they choose to ignore particular tenets or disagree about the accuracy of a rule in the first place.Less
Cafés are places where people are essentially forced to take a stance on the morality of specific activities, not only by choosing whether to partake, but also by passively accepting others' participation in their presence. Because many of the moral “rules” about the sorts of things one can do in a café—like listen to music or smoke argileh—are not clear-cut, cafés require people to navigate complex moral terrain in order to have fun while feeling good about themselves. This chapter takes up a number of these debatable activities in order to show how more or less pious Shi'i Muslims, especially youths, employ moral flexibility in their discourses and practices of leisure. In some cases, people negotiate among different rubrics of morality, while in others they choose to ignore particular tenets or disagree about the accuracy of a rule in the first place.
Lara Deeb and Mona Harb
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153650
- eISBN:
- 9781400848560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153650.003.0006
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter considers the ways in which pious Shi'i Muslims navigate and inhabit moral leisure places in different parts of the city. It argues that new moral leisure geographies are changing pious ...
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This chapter considers the ways in which pious Shi'i Muslims navigate and inhabit moral leisure places in different parts of the city. It argues that new moral leisure geographies are changing pious people's spatial experiences both within Dahiya and between Dahiya and Beirut. It begins with those who feel more comfortable remaining within their neighborhoods, and how this preference confines and territorially limits their spatial and leisure experiences. It then examines the urban experiences of those who prefer to venture outside the familiar to inhabit other city spaces that share their moral norms. Next, it shows how moral leisure facilitates new urban experiences in Dahiya and Beirut by promoting street life as well as public interactions. It concludes with reflections about how the city is being reshaped by the spatial practices of youths living moral leisure.Less
This chapter considers the ways in which pious Shi'i Muslims navigate and inhabit moral leisure places in different parts of the city. It argues that new moral leisure geographies are changing pious people's spatial experiences both within Dahiya and between Dahiya and Beirut. It begins with those who feel more comfortable remaining within their neighborhoods, and how this preference confines and territorially limits their spatial and leisure experiences. It then examines the urban experiences of those who prefer to venture outside the familiar to inhabit other city spaces that share their moral norms. Next, it shows how moral leisure facilitates new urban experiences in Dahiya and Beirut by promoting street life as well as public interactions. It concludes with reflections about how the city is being reshaped by the spatial practices of youths living moral leisure.
Justin Thomas McDaniel
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824865986
- eISBN:
- 9780824873738
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824865986.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Buddhism, usually described as an austere religion which condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the monastic and contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture. Creative ...
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Buddhism, usually described as an austere religion which condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the monastic and contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture. Creative religious improvisations designed by Buddhists across Asia have worked to build a leisure culture both within and outside of monasteries. The author looks at the growth of Buddhist leisure culture through a study of architects who helped design tourist sites, memorial gardens, monuments, museums, and even amusement parks in Nepal, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. In conversation with theorists of material and visual culture and anthropologists of art, this book argues that these sites show the importance of public, leisure and spectacle culture from a Buddhist cultural perspective. They show that the “secular” and “religious” and the “public” and “private” are in many ways false binaries. Moreover, many of these sites reflect a growing Buddhist ecumenism being built through repetitive affective encounters instead of didactic sermons, institutional campaigns, and sectarian developments. These sites present different Buddhist traditions, images, and aesthetic expressions as united but not uniform, collected but not concise—a gathering not a movement. Finally, despite the creativity of lay and ordained visionaries, the building of these sites often faces problems along the way. Parks, monuments, temples, and museums are complex adaptive systems changed and influenced by visitors, budgets, materials, local and global economic conditions. No matter what the architect intends, buildings develop lives of their own.Less
Buddhism, usually described as an austere religion which condemns desire, promotes denial, and idealizes the monastic and contemplative life, actually has a thriving leisure culture. Creative religious improvisations designed by Buddhists across Asia have worked to build a leisure culture both within and outside of monasteries. The author looks at the growth of Buddhist leisure culture through a study of architects who helped design tourist sites, memorial gardens, monuments, museums, and even amusement parks in Nepal, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Macau, Hong Kong, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. In conversation with theorists of material and visual culture and anthropologists of art, this book argues that these sites show the importance of public, leisure and spectacle culture from a Buddhist cultural perspective. They show that the “secular” and “religious” and the “public” and “private” are in many ways false binaries. Moreover, many of these sites reflect a growing Buddhist ecumenism being built through repetitive affective encounters instead of didactic sermons, institutional campaigns, and sectarian developments. These sites present different Buddhist traditions, images, and aesthetic expressions as united but not uniform, collected but not concise—a gathering not a movement. Finally, despite the creativity of lay and ordained visionaries, the building of these sites often faces problems along the way. Parks, monuments, temples, and museums are complex adaptive systems changed and influenced by visitors, budgets, materials, local and global economic conditions. No matter what the architect intends, buildings develop lives of their own.
Colin Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469619958
- eISBN:
- 9781469619972
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469619958.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
In early twentieth-century America, affluent city-dwellers made a habit of venturing out of doors and vacationing in resorts and national parks. Yet the rich and the privileged were not the only ones ...
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In early twentieth-century America, affluent city-dwellers made a habit of venturing out of doors and vacationing in resorts and national parks. Yet the rich and the privileged were not the only ones who sought respite in nature. This book demonstrates that working-class white immigrants and African Americans in rapidly industrializing Chicago also fled the urban environment during their scarce leisure time. While narrating a crucial era in the history of Chicago’s urban development, the book makes important interventions in debates about working-class leisure, the history of urban parks, environmental justice, the African American experience, immigration history, and the cultural history of nature.Less
In early twentieth-century America, affluent city-dwellers made a habit of venturing out of doors and vacationing in resorts and national parks. Yet the rich and the privileged were not the only ones who sought respite in nature. This book demonstrates that working-class white immigrants and African Americans in rapidly industrializing Chicago also fled the urban environment during their scarce leisure time. While narrating a crucial era in the history of Chicago’s urban development, the book makes important interventions in debates about working-class leisure, the history of urban parks, environmental justice, the African American experience, immigration history, and the cultural history of nature.
