[ecrea] Call for abstracts: Leisure

Leisure

Experience, identity and economy



Guest Editors: Associate professor Thessa Jensen, Associate professor 
Tem Frank Andersen, Ph.D. Henrik Dahl



Leisure is part of modern life. Today leisure is something that is 
included in both national and local politics, and it is a central part 
of the principle and the practise of the Welfare State. Historically 
leisure was introduced or rather fought for by the labour movement. It 
was supposed to be the ’free’ time outside both the production of work 
life and the domestic reproduction of the societal institutions. In the 
New Deal period after World War II leisure emerged as an area for rapid 
growth in the industrialized countries. Leisure became a new market for 
leisure goods such as mediatised entertainment, sports participation, 
fashion, clothes and outfits, toys, games and comics. In that respect 
leisure became a new arena for the production of meaning of modern 
(wo)man. However, it can be argued that leisure flows from the human 
capacity to play. In that sense it predates the emergence of modern 
society, and it is possible to understand leisure as something central 
to being human.



Leisure is linked to different kinds of cultures such as popular 
culture, underground culture and folk culture. It may even be said that 
leisure in itself is a culture. With the emergence of the experience 
economy it has become clear that leisure does not only deal with the 
production and consumption of leisure goods, but leisure is central to 
the notion of freedom and personal identity. We do what we feel like 
doing in our leisure time, even though we may display some traces of 
habitual preferences. Maybe we choose to play soccer, golf or row due to 
parental inspiration or guidance. But we choose our leisure activities 
to define personal interest, and in some cases even ambition. It can be 
argued that leisure is the central key to understand the performative 
self, that is to say, that to be involves performing leisure activities. 
In any case, leisure reflects something central in relation to how we 
experience ourselves as human beings, how we construct or render an 
identity, and how both these elements are linked to the socio-economic 
structure. This was analyzed as early as 1899 by Norwegian-American 
sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his work The Theory of the Leisure 
Class, who accepted leisure as part of the development of modern 
Capitalism but also viewed leisure with great concern. In this respect 
modern leisure is conceptualized as a social and cultural battlefield.



In the article ”Sociological Perspectives and Leisure Research” American 
professor John R. Kelley (Kelley, 1974) outlines three paradigms that 
can explore and explain leisure as a scientific phenomenon. These 
perspectives are the structural approach drawing on Emile Durkheim, the 
conflict model of Karl Marx and the interpretative approach informed by 
Max Weber. The ambition of this issue of Academic Quarter is to 
contribute to a current update on leisure studies beyond a period of 
four decades, and maybe beyond the three paradigms outlined by Kelley.



This issue of the next Academic Quarter (Vol. 11, spring 2015) invites 
researchers from the humanities and sociology to contribute to the 
ambition of exploring leisure through articles that deal with 
theoretical perspectives, case studies and other empirical work on the 
subject. Of special interest are research studies that reflect the way 
new media technologies such as social and mobile media play a role in 
the possible emergence of new leisure forms and cultures in relation to 
human experience, personal identity and economy. Contributions could for 
instance include studies of:



iLiterature: From pocket books to touch screens

I run therefore I am: Sport as identity performance in the age of 
self-surveillance

Event me this: Experience economy as part of the fandom circuit and culture

Where do I go from here: Contexts for leisure in everyday life

I do like divas: Reception studies of reality-tv

Ludo ergo sum: What kind of game do we play in our leisure time?

When chatting means snapping and grapping: Snapchat as communication.





References

Kelly, John R. (1974). Sociological Perspectives and Leisure Research. 
In Journal of Current Sociology No. 22: 127. Sage Publications.

Veblen, Thorstein (1899). The Theory of the Leisure Class. An Economic 
Studry of Institutions. New York: MacMillan Company.



Suggestions for articles:

The first step is to submit an abstract of about 150 words to be mailed 
to Tem Frank Andersen ((tfa /at/ hum.aau.dk)) and Thessa Jensen 
((thessa /at/ hum.aau.dk)) no later than November 1, 2014. The editors will 
then review the abstracts and notify the authors their decisions by 
November 15. Accepted articles – using the Chicago System Style Sheet 
(http://www.akademiskkvarter.hum. aau.dk/pdf/AK_word_template.doc) – 
should then be e-mailed to the editors no later than February 1, 2015. 
Articles will then be reviewed anonymously in a double, blind peer 
review process by April 1. The articles should be around 15,000-25,000 
keystrokes (3,000-3,500 words), and they can be written in English or in 
the Scandinavian languages. Assuming that the articles are accepted by 
the peer reviewers and the editors they should be revised and the final 
version sent in by May 1, 2015. The issue will be published in June 1015.

Academic Quarter has been approved according to the Danish 
bibliometrical system for 2011 and forward.

Contact: http://akademiskkvarter.hum.aau.dk/UK/contact.php

DEADLINES 2014-2015

November 20: Submission of abstract

February 1: Submission of article

April 1: Peer review

May 1: Final Article

June 1: Publication

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