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  • © 2017

Leisure’s Legacy

Challenging the Common Sense View of Free Time

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Provides a critical engagement with the common sense view of leisure
  • Conceptualises the “popular image” of leisure as a kind of stereotype, while highlighting its inadequacies
  • Reviews the modern scientific understanding of the nature of leisure, as based on theory and research

Part of the book series: Leisure Studies in a Global Era (LSGE)

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. The Nature of Leisure

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 7-18
  3. Leisure’s Common Sense Images

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 19-30
  4. The History of Today’s Legacy

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 31-51
  5. Modern Complexity: Types of Leisure

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 53-61
  6. What Do We Get from Leisure? Positive Rewards

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 63-79
  7. What Do We Get from Leisure? Its Costs

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 81-97
  8. Leisure in the Community: Contributions

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 99-117
  9. Leisure in the Community: Negative Effects

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 119-133
  10. Personal Development Through Leisure

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 135-153
  11. Devotee Work as Leisure

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 155-171
  12. Leisure Lifestyle

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 173-191
  13. Conclusion

    • Robert A. Stebbins
    Pages 193-202
  14. Back Matter

    Pages 203-221

About this book

This book illustrates how leisure, as with other complex ideas that hold currency in today’s world, suffers at the level of common sense, due to a combination of oversimplification, moral depreciation, and even lack of recognition.


Leisure’s modern legacy is both profound and immense, as a product of approximately 45 years of steady research, application and theory development. The common sense view of free-time activities, therefore, can and should be challenged. Stebbins provides this confrontation by tackling four particular themes: that gatekeepers within the institutions of higher education and funding agencies for research often fail to attach adequate resources to the idea of leisure; that the general population are guided by certain common sense definitions and largely unaware of how an informed view of free time could be beneficial; that practitioners within certain fields continue to refuse to engage with the idea of leisure despite its benefitfor their clients; and that the weak reception of the science of leisure within mainstream social sciences suggests a similarly warped understanding of how people use their free time.


Leisure’s Legacy will be of interest to scholars of Leisure Studies and all those wishing to learn more about the vital importance of leisure in modern Western society.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Robert A. Stebbins

About the author

Robert A. Stebbins, FRSC, is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary, Canada. Stebbins has authored or edited over 50 books and monographs as well as over 230 articles and chapters in several areas of social science. Stebbins is Elected Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, and the World Leisure Academy.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Leisure’s Legacy

  • Book Subtitle: Challenging the Common Sense View of Free Time

  • Authors: Robert A. Stebbins

  • Series Title: Leisure Studies in a Global Era

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59794-2

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-59793-5Published: 28 July 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-86703-8Published: 03 August 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-59794-2Published: 17 July 2017

  • Series ISSN: 2946-3173

  • Series E-ISSN: 2946-3181

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 221

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Sociology of Sport and Leisure, Sociology of Culture, Social Theory

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access