Abstract

As a sub-field of the new social history, the scholarly history of leisure in Britain has been in active production for some 15 or so years. The bulk of this work has concentrated on the 19th century, and its interpretations of social change and the role of leisure in the formation and mediation of class cultures have contributed significantly to the wider ferment of critical debate in British historiography. At the same time, the reading of leisure as a constituent element in the more dynamic category of culture has implicated historians in the theoretical discourses of neo-Marxism and the emergent field of cultural studies. Yet the general future for the field is not at all clear; there is a slowing or dissipation of the original impulse and after its first generation of production the field stands in some need of redefinition or recharging. The review that follows surveys the range and content of leisure history under three general headings: the broad chronology or developmental scheme suggested by historians, including more recent work on the 18th and 20th centuries; their various and disputed interpretations of the major forces and relationships determining modern leisure formation; an overall assessment of the field and tentative agenda for new work. Verf.-Referat