Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

Cultural approaches
in 1952, tWO amERican anthropologists compiled a list of 164 different uses of the
concept “culture” [242]. Today, that list could be made even longer since new ideas
about culture have emerged, most notably in cognitive anthropology. A basic definition
is that culture is socially transmitted knowledge that has accumulated over time
and enables complex social coordination and highly varied social systems [243].
Culture is what confers shared meaning to objects, events and relations. Taking a
cultural approach to gambling thus concerns the collective meanings, values and
moralities that relate to gambling.
Play and gambling
The anthropological and ethnological literature on play is extensive [244]. The subject
of play is covered also by pedagogy and, with regard to animals, by ethology. A
basic assumption of the studies is that play has valuable functions for the individual
or the group. Play stimulates the intellectual or physical development of human
beings, aids the learning of social and cultural skills, strengthens group cohesion,
gives excitement and entertainment, and therefore promotes health and well-being.
These general functions will not be discussed here, the focus being on how gambling
is viewed from a play perspective.
Undoubtedly, the most well-known treatise on play is Homo Ludens: A Study of
the Play Element in Culture [245] by the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga. The fame
of Huizinga’s treatise stems from its radical message: play is at the very foundation
of culture and society, “civilization arises and unfolds in and as play” (p. i). Play
is thus viewed in a very positive light and Huizinga explores it across the various
phases of historical evolution and dimensions of society. Play is claimed to provide
the creativity, energy and spiritual mood necessary for the development of culture
and society. Naturally enough, a one-track approach such as this to the rise and
progression of human civilization appears rather strained to the balanced reader.
The book should preferably be taken not as an account of the origins of civilization,
but as a source of inspiration as to the importance of play and imagination in
human life.
As to gambling, Homo Ludens says very little. It is, in passing, claimed that
gambling games are “unproductive” for the development of culture and that they
are “sterile, adding nothing to life and the mind” (p. 48). Huizinga states that in
play there is no material interest (p. 13) and laments the existence of “false play” (p.
205), which presumably indicates a conception of gambling as not being genuine
play [246].
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