How have the opportunities for and nature of leisure changed in britain since 1945?
Few would doubt that over the past several decades there has been a revolution in terms of the availability and nature of leisure in Britain.
Indeed, if we take a historical perspective and trace this change over the past 50 or 60 years we may not only find great differences in terms of the types and popularity of leisure activities. We may also better understand the now central importance of leisure for the economic, cultural and even political character of contemporary British society. In this essay I shall argue that not only has there been an explosion of leisure pursuits and thus increased opportunities for leisure in broader terms. There has also been a considerable shift in the way in which leisure is viewed in British society - the place it is given in our lives. So much so in fact that the old distinction between work and leisure is now much more blurred and possibly untenable.
Before examining particular types of leisure activity, new and old, such as tourism, sport and cinema, I shall first outline some of the key features of the changes from 1945 to the present. I will then reflect further on these changes in relation to particular leisure activities.
Perhaps the most important of these changes has been the degree to which leisure activities and class shapes the very definition of leisure. During the period after the Second World War through to the late 1950’s the leisure activities of the British working class were largely situated in communal and familial settings. The rise of the ‘leisured classes’, in the 1920’s and 30’s, had been replaced by a more frugal middle class and a strongly communal working class after the Second World War. Many commentators have noted how the ‘collective spirit’ during the Second World War enabled a political and to some extent social consensus after the war. Thus, for many people work was non-aspirational and functional and underpinned as much by an ethos of responsibility (to family, manhood, nation, community) as individual achievement. In a similar vein the leisure activities of the working classes were mainly situated within local clubs, pubs and football teams. Other types of leisure, such as tourism, sports such as tennis and golf as well as theatre were largely the preserve of the middle and upper classes.
From the late 1950’s through to the 60’s and 70’s things began to change however. In particular, this period saw the growth of film, television and popular music as leisure activities. Influenced by trends from the United States and by youth culture movements within Britain itself, a new generation emerged whose leisure pursuits were less attached to the usual ties of community and family. Indeed, television and to a greater extent film became not only leisure pursuits in themselves but mediums for the exposure and encouragement of other leisure pursuits. Suddenly, for a new generation leisure became much more important (Marwick: 2003, 86). It became something that demanded greater investment of one’s personal resources - time and money. An extreme example of this was the beat movement - who were committed, it seemed, to an entire lifestyle of bohemian experience. In youth culture there were the mod’s who lived for the weekend and in the 1960’s and 70’s hippies, the motto for many of whom was ‘tune in and drop out’.
These developments laid the foundations for the revolution in terms of the opportunities for and nature of leisure during the 1980’s and 1990’s. The key aspect of this revolution was the combination of leisure as a lifestyle and the enormous commercial expansion of leisure provision to accommodate it. Britain was arguably a unique case in this regard. The 1980’s in particular saw the rapid decline of the old manufacturing industries and an economic revolution that saw these industries replaced by the service sector. Tourism, media, music, fashion, sport and other leisure activities all experienced massive expansion during this period, both in terms of the percentage of overall economic activity and in terms of the widening of access to and variation of such activities. Britain became a much more consumerist society - with a much greater emphasis on aspiration. In other words, leisure became not just something pursued for recreation and pleasure, but an important part of the achievement of one’s life goals. However, it is important to note that increased access to leisure and changes in the nature of leisure itself has not affected everyone equally. Different groups have experienced the leisure revolution differently - as shall be explained below.
Tourism
Perhaps the most dramatic transformation of any leisure pursuit from 1945 to the present is tourism. Certainly that is, in terms of the opportunities for tourism. Cheaper air travel has enabled massively more people to travel abroad in 2005 than in 1945. Indeed, the standard two-week holiday in a hotel or apartment abroad is probably cheaper than the equivalent in Britain. And partly because Britain’s climate is not so favourable and that Britain is an island, tourism abroad has become both more popular and more important. It is however, also highly differentiated. Some tourism is about exploration, experiencing other cultures, whilst other types of tourism are almost entirely indifferent to new or different cultural experience. In this regard, leisure can either be merely a means of relaxation or recreation or it can be combined with self-improvement or self-enlightenment, or it can also be both. However it is pursued though, tourism is undoubtedly a much more important part of the leisure activities of British people now than in 1945 (Marwick: 2003, 116).
Sport
Sport is another leisure activity that has experienced a significant transformation from 1945 to the present. In terms of opportunity the change is very clear. In 1945 sport was very much dominated by class and gender. It was generally regarded as a male activity - an activity that enabled men to realise their masculinity through competition with other men. And it was also class based, with football chiefly a working class leisure pursuit with other sports such as tennis and golf largely middle or upper class (Marwick: 2003, 64). In 2005 it is possible to say that most sports are classless, both in terms of access and to a lesser extent in terms of the cultural meaning given to the sports themselves. And sport is by no means exclusive to men, although there does remain a degree of gender differentiation. It should also be noted that much sport is still experienced differently within different cultural, mainly ethnic groups.
Just as significant however has been the transformation of the nature of sport as leisure. Sport is now much more commercialised than in 1945. By commercialisation we do not simply mean that more wealth is generated through sport. This is of course true but perhaps more significantly, sport has become much more integrated within chosen lifestyles and other commercial activities than ever before. To participate in or watch sport is not just a matter of recreation. It is also about lifestyle aspiration and self-creation (Hill, 2002: 6).
Film and television
The expansion and transformation of sport and tourism as leisure activities would not have been possible were it not also for the simultaneous expansion and transformation of film and television. These mediums have undoubtedly changed the nature of other leisure activities, especially by attaching different cultural meanings to them. There is probably no better example of this than football. The presentation of football on television, especially from the early 1990’s onwards, has helped to greatly expand the range of socio-cultural groups than now participate in the sport either by watching or playing.
However, film and television in particular have, since 1945, become significantly more important as leisure pursuits in themselves. A far greater proportion of our non-working time is now taken up by watching television. This is by no means a recent development; it has been ongoing for the last several decades. And one should certainly not hesitate to categorise watching television as a leisure activity. Even if watching TV is often viewed as a passive and especially un-strenuous and unchallenging activity it is certainly a form of leisure. Film, especially at the cinema, is perhaps a more proactive and more definite example of leisure however. And the difference between now and in 1945 is very great indeed. Not only are there now many more films there are also many more cinemas’s to watch them in.
Both film and television are being transformed however by new digital technologies. This has enabled far greater differentiation of the types of television and film we now consume. Gone are the days when the whole nation watched the same TV programmes and films. Indeed, it could be argued that greater differentiation through new media technologies has further fuelled the differentiation of our leisure activities - which are now much more geared towards individual tastes and desires.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the leisure pursuits of Britain’s youth. In 1945 British youth had to be content with creating leisure activities for themselves but today there is a sizeable industry dedicated to providing for the leisure needs of young people, which is very much media driven and generated. Indeed the category of youth has surely expanded to include not just teenagers but ‘young’ people from 18 to 30 or 35. In 1945 by the age of 30 or even younger people were expected to be married with children. Now it is widely believed that to be married with children before the age of 30 is to potentially sacrifice a whole decade of leisure that would otherwise be less possible.
The Arts
Another key difference between 1945 and 2005 is the far greater access to what is often considered to be high culture, namely theatre, opera, dance, galleries ect. Whilst these activities are stilled mainly pursued by the middle and upper classes they have undoubtedly become much more accessible than in 1945. And neither have they escaped commercialisation.
Consumption, work and leisure?
More generally it could be argued that so much more of non-working our lives are taken up in consumption of one kind or another than in 1945. So much so that we might be inclined to understand consumption as a form of leisure. A visit to a shopping mall in contemporary Britain is little short of a leisure experience, and not just because it is in non-working time. Shopping malls now provide various kinds of entertainment as part of the shopping experience and there is a widespread perception that a shopping trip is not merely a necessity but a form of therapy or relief, something able to generate good feelings or pleasure like other forms of entertainment. Indeed such is the significance of leisure in the lives of contemporary Britain’s, especially leisure as the consumption of aspiration or pleasure that we might be witnessing the collapse of the distinction between work and leisure. Not only do many people conceive of work now as being necessary mainly to gain the financial means for leisure. Other’s, still conceive of work in the same terms as leisure - as being something pursued for the purposes of self-creation, self-improvement and self-realisation (Florida: 2004, 5). For many amongst the rising generation there is no line that divides work and leisure. We are not merely referring to the many who work in the leisure industries and who are often encouraged to view their work as a form of leisure. But also those that work outside that sector and still demand that their work is self-fulfilling or entertaining.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this essay has comprehensively demonstrated that there has been a dramatic change in terms of the opportunities for and nature of leisure in Britain since 1945. At one level this change has been in terms of the far greater access to vast range of different leisure activities. At another, deeper level it has been in terms of the nature of leisure itself - it’s significance within our lives, lifestyle’s and aspirations.
Bibliography
R Florida, The rise of the creative class: And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life, Basic Books: 2004.
J Hill, Sport, Leisure and culture in Twentieth Century Britain, Palgrave: 2003
A Marwick, British Society since 1945.
