Entertainment Leisure And Identities

This wide-ranging collection of essays seeks to challenge the ‘common-sense’ assumption that entertainment activities have no function but to fill up otherwise empty moments. As such it builds on the term – coined by the Victorians – ‘Recreation’, and argues that in the entertainments people pursue they do not simply divert themselves, but actively create and re-create their identities. The collection shows this process can only take place for those who enjoy the benefits of leisure; hence, in the medieval period leisure and entertainments are largely confined to the wealthy minority. In periods of rapid social change, like 19th century Britain, the inter-linked question of identity and entertainment became an issue of great concern. Orderly and respectable activities were seen by many commentators as the key to containing the potential menace of the new urban population. In the 20th century the development of new forms of mass entertainment, such as cinema, radio and television, has generated new debates, in particular about the potential of these new media to manipulate their audiences. The essays, arranged in broadly chronological order, give fascinating and detailed ‘snapshots’ of these processes as they unfold from the middle ages to the present-day. As such the collection makes a very valuable contribution to the historical study of the social and, broadly defined, political role played by entertainments in shaping and reinforcing identities. 'In recent years the history of leisure and, more particularly, the history of leisure pursuits, amusements and "entertainments", has engaged the attention of social historians who, as well as highlighting their intrinsic interests, have demonstrated the contribution which such studies can make to an understanding on social identities and class relationships. This collection of essays explores a wide and eclectic range of "entertainments" - from medieval pet-keeping, Victorian chess tournaments and late 19th century museums of curiosities to French anarchist theatre and the career of Harry Belafonte - themes which until now received little or no scholarly analysis. As such it fills a significant gap in the historical literature.' G. R. Searle, Emeritus Prof. of History, University of East Anglia and Fellow of the British Academy

First published in 1983. Leisure has too often been approached as a set of activities that people do when everything important has been completed. This text provides a different analysis demonstrating the centrality of leisure to human development and to important relationships. In Leisure Identities and Interactions the author analyses leisure in the context of role changes through the life course, but also as a social context in which we work out the identities that express who we really want to be. His focus is on the kinds of leisure that are both most common and most significant face-to-face encounters, family interaction, and episodes found in the midst of our roles and routines. Varieties of leisure styles are found to be developed out of available opportunities and in relation to cultural values, but also are chosen to express and negotiate our self-definitions. Leisure is both social and existential and can best be understood in the dialectic of role expectations and decision. Kelly utilizes symbolic interaction, interpretive, and dramaturgical metaphors to develop a different sociology of leisure one that brings together the concepts of role and identity. Expressive identities and intimate communities are as essential to leisure as they are to life.

First published in 1983. Leisure has too often been approached as a set of activities that people do when everything important has been completed. This text provides a different analysis demonstrating the centrality of leisure to human development and to important relationships. In Leisure Identities and Interactions the author analyses leisure in the context of role changes through the life course, but also as a social context in which we work out the identities that express who we really want to be. His focus is on the kinds of leisure that are both most common and most significant face-to-face encounters, family interaction, and episodes found in the midst of our roles and routines. Varieties of leisure styles are found to be developed out of available opportunities and in relation to cultural values, but also are chosen to express and negotiate our self-definitions. Leisure is both social and existential and can best be understood in the dialectic of role expectations and decision. Kelly utilizes symbolic interaction, interpretive, and dramaturgical metaphors to develop a different sociology of leisure one that brings together the concepts of role and identity. Expressive identities and intimate communities are as essential to leisure as they are to life.

How do our everyday environments inform our activities, routines and encounters? In what way has globalization affected the sites in which we work, relax and interact? Is there still a place for local identity in a globalized age? This book examines the ways in which we use local spaces and global processes to shape our identities. Showing how enhanced tourism, communication developments and increased diversity have effected the way we live every day, the text also explains how individuals, communities and cities react to such globalizing forces on a local level. Each chapter unravels complex connections between place, identity and global processes, and carefully outlines what core theory can tell us about key contemporary debates, including surveillance, environmental change and sustainability. Taking examples from urban and rural life, shopping malls and virtual worlds, the book encourages us to look at our immediate surroundings in a sociological light. Highlighting the interdependence of space and society in a rapidly changing world, this text is essential reading for those studying place and identity in Sociology, Cultural Studies, Geography, Urban Studies and Rural Studies.

Much of the world has access to internet and social media. The internet has quickly become a new hub for not only communication, but also community development. In most communities, people develop new cultural norms and identity development through social media usage. However, while these new lines of communication are helpful to many, challenges such as social media addiction, cyberbullying, and misinformation lurk on the internet and threaten forces both within and beyond the internet. The Research Anthology on Usage, Identity, and Impact of Social Media on Society and Culture is a comprehensive resource on the impact social media has on an individuals’ identity formation as well as its usage within society and cultures. It explores new research methodologies and findings into the behavior of users on social media as well as the effects of social media on society and culture as a whole. Covering topics such as cultural diversity, online deception, and youth impact, this major reference work is an essential resource for computer scientists, online community moderators, sociologists, business leaders and managers, marketers, advertising agencies, government officials, libraries, students and faculty of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Yiddish Paris explores how Yiddish-speaking emigrants from Eastern Europe in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s created a Yiddish diaspora nation in Western Europe and how they presented that nation to themselves and to others in France. In this meticulously researched and first full-length study of interwar Yiddish culture in France, author Nicholas Underwood argues that the emergence of a Yiddish Paris was depended on "culture makers," mostly left-wing Jews from Socialist and Communist backgrounds who created cultural and scholarly organizations and institutions, including the French branch of YIVO (a research institution focused on East European Jews), theater troupes, choruses, and a pavilion at the Paris World's Fair of 1937. Yiddish Paris examines how these left-wing Yiddish-speaking Jews insisted that even in France, a country known for demanding the assimilation of immigrant and minority groups, they could remain a distinct group, part of a transnational Yiddish-speaking Jewish nation. Yet, in the process, they in fact created a French-inflected version of Jewish diaspora nationalism, finding allies among French intellectuals, largely on the left.

The first comparative study of how the French Popular Front and its right-wing opponents transformed the masses into the people, whether in demonstrations and festivals, or theatre and film. Seven chapters examine the representation of the crowd, workers, electorate, nation and symbolic community, exploring parallels between left and right.