Leisure identities, globalization, and the politics of place

Abstract

As a particularly modern modality for making and resisting claims bout the use and meaning of places leisure has a prominent role in the politics of place. This is particularly evident in land use politics in the western U.S., which serves as a launching point for examining the ways in which leisure makes competing claims on a place. Within leisure studies initial interest in place ideas focused on leisure places as sources of identification and affiliation that lend meaning and purpose to life. More recently the field has witnessed a growing appreciation for how leisure places create and structure social differences and the potential for leisure to be used to assert power and authority over place. Both the intensified politics of place and the primacy of leisure as a venue for self identity have their origins in modernity and globalization. These social forces not only destabilize and uproot place meanings, they generate the modern project of constructing an individual identity. As vehicles for making and affirming modern identities, leisure and tourism, in turn, give rise to greater competition for the meaning of places.

Citation

Williams, Daniel R. 2002. Leisure identities, globalization, and the politics of place. Journal of Leisure Research. 34(4): 351-367.