The History of Leisure

By David Skinner

I. EARLY AND CLASSICAL PERIODS

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. On the seventh day, he rested. This is the first acknowledgment we have of leisure. But it wasn’t long before Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden of Eden to toil and suffer in the world as mortals. Until that fateful bite, theirs was a life of leisure.

Since then, mankind has longed, if not for eternity, at least for seven days per year to return to the Garden, to the life of leisure. Many words today share at least in part this essence of leisure, such as vacations, holidays, weekends, and time-off. Each entered common usage at different times with different purpose. Today their nuance is lost, their import forgotten. While their meanings have been mixed, their essence remains leisure.

The Greeks in all their wisdom revered leisure. They believed leisure was the quintessence of civilized living. They called it schole, the pursuit of experience and scholarship. An apt word which we have adopted as our own word “school,” a place of learning!

The Romans adopted the Greek’s high regard for and pursuit of leisure. They added their notions of celebration, health spas, and hedonistic lifestyles-many of the things still sought by vacationers today.

II. FROM MEDIEVAL AGES TO THE BIRTH OF NATIONS

Leisure for the next fifteen centuries was enjoyed solely by those of noble birth. The peasantry was considered a part of the land and property of the king. Their work was hard, their future bleak. Their years were few. Even so, there were occasions for celebration, such as harvest time, the solstice, and the occasional witch burning or public hanging.

Etymologically, the word leisure descends from the Latin word licere, meaning “to be permitted,” or “to be free,” via the Old French leisir. It first appears in the early 14th century. Scholars believe the “u” was added in the 16th century, by analogy with words such as pleasure. Since that felicitous addition, “leisure” has also symbolized luxury, freedom, pleasure, and satisfaction.

By the mid-eighteenth century, a very important event advanced the history of leisure-the American Revolution. Their struggle by any other name was the yearning for leisure. Democracy broke the chains that bound them to earth and king. Unfortunately, independence to govern did not provide time for leisure. That would remain a distant promise of the American Dream.

One hundred years later the American Civil War gave those living in slavery their right to leisure. These two war-ridden events were pivotal in the history of leisure’s advance. They granted every man the freedom of choice, “the permission,” as the French word licere implies. Lacking now was only the time for its pursuit.

III. EARLY MODERN ERA

This was the period of the Industrial Revolution and rapid societal change from a craft-based economy to one of machines and mass production. Leisure’s role in culture was debated, too. At stake were its classic values and lofty intent. As the German philosopher, Joseph Piper, wrote, leisure is a “condition of the soul” or a “state of being” to be pursued during “free time.” In opposition, a growing school of intellectuals rejected leisure as a pointless diversion of the rich. Thorstein Veblen, in his book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, labeled it “conspicuous consumption,” and “conspicuous leisure.” Their goal was to strip leisure of its noble purpose and reduce it to the mundane. They defined leisure as merely “time not occupied by paid work, unpaid work, or personal chores and obligations.” Leisure, now drained of spirit, was merely the hours between work’s beginning and end. This was a severe blow to leisure’s central role in culture. Replaced by work it languished for decades.

About this time, the word “vacation” came into popular use, signifying a time away from work or school. Its British origin referred to the long break taken by courts of law and universities as they vacated their institutions for the summer. Perhaps the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz said it best: “A vacation is what you take when you can’t take what you’ve been taking any longer.”

The early twentieth century was a time of great political upheaval when social philosophies emerged, governments formed, and labor united. The “worker class” found its champions in the writings of Marx, the revolution of Lenin, and the trade unions. Marx wrote, “Work is a necessity of life. To eat, you must work,” and that, “freedom begins where work ends.”

Following WWI, Europe, specifically Italy and Germany, was in the grip of economic despair. As a means of political control, politicians used the desire for leisure to win popular support. Italy’s fascist regime sponsored the Dopolavoro, or “After Work,” organization. Nazi Germany took the concept of nationalistic leisure much further with its “Strength through Joy,” or Kraft durch Freude (KdF). It endeared its citizenry by subsidizing leisure travel, building seaside and Bavarian resorts, even launching cruise ships.

One of the KdF’s more famous projects was the building of an economical auto to make leisure travel more affordable. It was called the People’s Car, or Volkswagen.

As WWII approached, the resources of the organization were redirected to the war effort and the KdF became a tool for the sinister atrocities of the Third Reich. Eerily similar was the sign on the gate at Auschwitz. It read: Arbeit Macht Frei, Work Brings Freedom. It was a dark and desperate time for leisure.

IV. LATE MODERN ERA

The end of World War II marked the return of leisure to its rightful place in society. It was heralded by returning GI’s determined to make babies not war. And make ‘em they did. With the economy humming and work aplenty, couples during the Fifties and Sixties, when not pursuing each other, were pursuing leisure. From the newly invented television to interstate highways and commercial airlines, travel and leisure become a national passion. The American family now had time and a station wagon full of reasons.

It was not long before Madison Avenue discovered leisure’s commercial potential. They beckoned all to “See the USA in your Chevrolet.” Leisure had become a commercial commodity. A travel and leisure industry emerged to fill the demand. Speculators and land developers, in turn, built theme parks, motels, and resorts. All inspired by a mouse named Mickey.

By the mid-70s, two bright fellows pushed leisure’s pursuit yet further. Thinking to make resort stays more affordable, they adapted a European concept of shared ownership. Each condominium unit was subdivided into weekly usage periods. Timeshare was born. It endowed leisure with a sense of tangibility, of accessibility, of ownership. It was deeded like real estate, yet resembled a security.

Originally, timeshare, or vacation ownership as it was often called, was limited to a single location and fixed week each year. Soon companies were formed to facilitate the trade of one location for another. Like stocks on Wall Street, leisure now had an exchange.

To provide greater flexibility, timeshare developers devised a floating week reservation system and moved away from timeshare’s “gold standard” of the fixed week.

Popular locations and seasons reflected greater demand and were more valuable for exchange. Absent the “gold standard,” value was based on market opinion. Leisure had become monetized.

Lastly, the floating reservation system was divided into points. The number of points reflected its exchange popularity. In a few short years, leisure had become commercialized-exchanged as a commodity, valued by market opinion, and monetized like currency. Leisure now resembled the American capitalist system.

The technologies of the computer and the Internet enhanced access to, and widened the scope of, the pursuit of leisure. It now took only minutes to explore, decide, and book travel reservations. At the same time, technology encroached upon leisure’s sanctity as those same computers were often taken on vacation, too. Leisure had become networked.

As the 21st century began, leisure once again came under attack, this time by radical ideologues who sought nothing more than the anihilation of Western Culture. Their Jihad and angry rhetoric was directed against freedom, directly at the heart of leisure. Still, leisure endures, albeit with long lines at the airports.

V. THE AGE OF LEISURE

As we approach the present in this History of Leisure, another demographic phenomenon demands our attention: the aging baby boom generation. Born between 1946 and 1964, it was raised with the expectation of leisure. “Boomers” now think of it as a necessity, if not a right. These seventy-seven million Americans with time on their hands and money to burn will pursue leisure like no generation before. They will define it on their terms; they will adapt it to their means and pursue it to their ends. They yearn for the Garden. And it’s likely to get crowded.

VI. EPILOGUE

The pursuit of leisure has been a long and arduous journey. Throughout the ages it has persevered, it has adapted, it has served, and it has survived. Like the distant horizon, it remains beyond reach, yet firmly planted in our hearts. Leisure is within us and it is without us. Pursue it!

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David Skinner is founder and CEO of the Holiday Group.

To see an illustrated version of this article, click here.

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