Leisure and Consumption
Leisure and consumption have always been intimately linked, in the same way as work and production are. During the industrial Protestant era, consumption and leisure were seen as indulgent, decadent, feminine pursuits not worthy of serious intellectual analysis. One reason for this was that production, commerce, and industry were embodied in the concept of work, emphasized by the dominant culture of the time as central to the development of good character. Consumption, however, was seen as an inconsequential activity engaged in during one's leisure time. 
 
 
Keywords: 
 
commodity; 
leisure and recreation; 
sociology of leisure and tourism
Identity and the commodification of leisure
This paper examines the effect commodifying leisure has on its perceived quality for the individual. We argue that leisure has a great deal to contribute to individual identity in urban industrial society, but that this is being overshadowed in a market economy which commodifies leisure and produces it for a large number of people, with a focus on profit. This idea leads us to examine the conformity and gender stereotyping potentiality of leisure to act as a restrictive rather than a liberalizing influence on identity thus devaluing the experience of leisure. Finally, we suggest that leisure providers can redirect leisure policy to ensure access to leisure outside of a purely commercial realm, a leisure that is potentially self-exploring, self-determining, rather than purchased.
Leisure and Life Politics
From the debate on the transformation of society, two theses have emerged which are of central relevance to social thought regarding leisure. First, the post work thesis argues that society is moving into a condition in which the cybernation of labor dramatically reduces the working week and the concomitant notion of the work career. One task of social theory is therefore the review of resource distribution, notably time allocation, in the light of the radically revised demand for labor. The second thesis is that the established institutions of politics, especially party politics, are of declining significance in everyday life and that they are being replaced by life politics, that is, a syncretic, non-party form of social and cultural orientation focusing on issues of lifestyle, environment, and globalization. This article shows the relevance of the life politics and post work arguments for understanding the future of leisure. It examines the concept of civil labor and points to tensions with traditional ideas of leisure. It is a contribution to the debate on leisure policy and the projection of trends in leisure practice. Finally, it concludes that the relationship between leisure and citizenship rights will be of dominant importance in the unfolding debate on the future of leisure.