Work and Leisure

Work and leisure: themes and issues 227to ‘flow’ or ‘optimal’ experiences. These experiences foster individual developmentand an increase in skills in the lifelong cultivation of specific interestsand activities. Delle Fave and Massimini (2003) report studies which show arelationship between optimal experience and quality of performance at work.They argue, in line with others, that these optimal experiences are importantin shaping our future. In Chapter 11 Stebbins discusses serious leisure, volunteerismand quality of life. His research shows that extended engagement inabsorbing leisure activities which require effort can provide a range ofrewards. But there are also costs involved, which entails a commitment to thepursuit. Rewards and costs may be an integral part of the social world andidentity associated with the pursuit, which would require the confidenceand social skills necessary to participate in community activity.Social capitalSocial capital has been viewed as the notional commodity of communityengagement and cohesion which can be associated with better health andwell-being. Yet preliminary studies are beginning to show that social ties havethe potential to both improve and constrain health and well-being; and thatan emphasis on increasing social capital has the potential to exclude thosewho are different (Sixsmith et al. 2001; Sixsmith 2002; Sixsmith and Boneham2002; Sixsmith et al. 2002). Perri 6 (2002) considers that the general argumentthat we need more ‘social capital’ for well-being is misguided, since the conceptlumps together too many forms of social organisation to be useful. Heargues that, understood at the level of social networks, the theory enables oneto reread with more exactitude the body of research that finds social networks,friendship and social support to be beneficial for a wide range ofoutcomes, to show that different kinds of networks benefit different practicesof well-being. However, following his thesis on the different and conflictingforms of social organisation in societies, he advocates that policys-makers’thinking about the larger sets of interests need to sustain the requisite varietyof all the types of friendship and acquaintance that are defined by differentforms of social organisation.The question of policyChanges in the balance of work and leisure in Western societies over the past150 years have been brought about by a mixture of market forces (from boththe demand and supply side), industrial action and government policy. In thepast, governments have legislated in the area of working hours and holidayswith pay largely on the basis of humanitarian concern for vulnerable groupsin the labour market. Concerns about the overall balance between work,leisure and consumption in the economy and society have tended to be secondary.Recent campaigns by European trades unions to reduce working