Capitalism and leisure theory

In this book, Chris Rojek maintains that relations of leisure are relations of power. He puts the case for a move away from the sociology of leisure to the sociology of pleasure. Basing his argument on a principled refutation of the conventional association of leisure with freedom and free time he examines the four main structural characteristics of modern leisure practice: privatization, individuation, commercialization, and pacifications. The writings of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Freud are used to show that the question of leisure is more securely located in mainstream social theory than has hitherto been recognized. An assessment of the leading theoretical positions of leisure today focuses on the contrasting approaches of social formalism, neo-Marxism, Barthes, Foucault, and figurational sociology.