ABSTRACT
In the mid-1970s, the volume Work and Leisure (Haworth and Smith 1975) established a number of parameters which shaped the study of work and leisure then and which remain salient three decades later. The first was the complexity of the field of study, due in part to the multifaceted nature of the concepts involved. Second, it was observed that the field of study necessarily involved a considerable range of disciplines. Third, the field reflected the ongoing ‘agency-structure’ debate in the social sciences: that is, the extent to which individuals act on and influence their life situations rather than being shaped primarily by wider social and economic forces and events. Fourth, as a result of its increasing social and economic significance, leisure had become a public policy and planning issue and was caught up in debates on public participation, the environment and the quality of life.
