Time, Freedom and the Self: The Cultural Construction of “Free” Time

380 Pages·2019·4.451 MB·English

by  Michelle Shir-Wise

LEISURE STUDIES IN A GLOBAL ERA
Time, Freedom
and the Self
The Cultural Construction
of “Free” Time
Michelle Shir-Wise
Leisure Studies in a Global Era
Series Editors
Karl Spracklen
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds, UK
Karen Fox
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB, Canada
In this book series, we defend leisure as a meaningful, theoretical, framing
concept; and critical studies of leisure as a worthwhile intellectual and ped-
agogical activity. This is what makes this book series distinctive: we want
to enhance the discipline of leisure studies and open it up to a richer range
of ideas; and, conversely, we want sociology, cultural geographies and
other social sciences and humanities to open up to engaging with criti-
cal and rigorous arguments from leisure studies. Getting beyond concerns
about the grand project of leisure, we will use the series to demonstrate
that leisure theory is central to understanding wider debates about iden-
tity, postmodernity and globalisation in contemporary societies across the
world. The series combines the search for local, qualitatively rich accounts
of everyday leisure with the international reach of debates in politics, lei-
sure and social and cultural theory. In doing this, we will show that critical
studies of leisure can and should continue to play a central role in under-
standing society. The scope will be global, striving to be truly international
and truly diverse in the range of authors and topics.
Editorial Board
John Connell, Professor of Geography, University of Sydney, USA
Yoshitaka Mori, Associate Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan
Smitha Radhakrishnan, Assistant Professor, Wellesley College, USA
Diane M. Samdahl, Professor of Recreation and Leisure Studies,
University of Georgia, USA
Chiung-Tzu Lucetta Tsai, Associate Professor, National Taipei University,
Taiwan
Walter van Beek, Professor of Anthropology and Religion, Tilburg
University, The Netherlands
Sharon D. Welch, Professor of Religion and Society, Meadville Theological
School, Chicago, USA
Leslie Witz, Professor of History, University of the Western Cape, South
Africa.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/series/14823
Michelle Shir-Wise
Time, Freedom
and the Self
The Cultural Construction of “Free” Time
Michelle Shir-Wise
Independent Researcher
Ramat Gan, Israel
Leisure Studies in a Global Era
ISBN 978-3-030-13840-0 ISBN 978-3-030-13841-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13841-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932931
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
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A
cknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the generous support of The President’s
Scholarship for Excellence at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
I am thankful to a number of people, who helped at various stages of
my research and during the writing of this book.
I am indebted to my Ph.D. supervisor, Professor Ilana Friedrich Silber
from the Department of Sociology at Bar-Ilan University, for her thor-
oughness, for sharing her wisdom, and for teaching me to view my work
with a critical eye.
My deepest thanks goes to Professor Dalia Gavriely-Nuri, for her
encouragement and support, her valuable advice and for making sure I
never lost sight of my goal.
I also wish to thank the various members of the faculty in the
Sociology Department at Bar-Ilan University; Professor Orly Benjamin,
Dr. Ori Schwarz, Dr. Michal Pagis, Dr. Galit Ailon and Dr. Shira Offer,
for their guidance and assistance at different stages of my research.
Thanks to the editorial staff at Palgrave Macmillan; to Mary Al-Sayed,
the commissioning editor, whose professionalism and efficiency made it a
pleasure to work with her, to Linda Braus, for her help, and to the pro-
duction team for their precision. I also wish to thank the series editor,
Karl Spracklen for his confidence in the book and the reviewers, for their
enthusiasm and constructive comments.
I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Avihu Shoshana, for his insight-
ful guidance which supported my first steps in sociological research, and
for his encouragement to pursue further research.
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply grateful to my husband and children for believing in me,
to my sisters for always being there, and to my loving parents who have
been a source of inspiration and taught me the value of critical thinking
and social responsibility.
Lastly, I am indebted to the participants of this study who generously
shared their time, thoughts and knowledge with me, without which this
book would not have been possible.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
Overview of the Book 6
2 Free Time, Culture and the Self 9
Leisure and Time Use 9
Individualism and the Contemporary Self 16
Time, Consumption and the Self 19
Time, Media Technology and the Self 20
Time, Happiness and Freedom 23
Culture, Freedom and the Question of Agency 27
The Study 31
The Israeli Middle Class Context 32
Theoretical Concepts 37
Objectives of the Book 38
References 40
3 What Is Topaz? 53
Topaz Through the Eyes of Local Figures 55
A Family Town 56
Middle Plus 58
Harmony: Religious and Irreligious 62
Local Texts 64
vii
viii CONTENTS
A Smorgasbord of Activities and Events 64
Scripts of Success, Family and Community 65
References 68
4 Conceptual Mapping: What Is Free Time? 71
Free Time and the Free Self 71
Freedom From 72
Freedom from Work and Obligations 72
The Enemies of Free Time 74
Freedom To 85
Choice, Agency and Control 85
Time for the Self 87
Concrete Illustrations of Free Time 89
Discussion 90
References 93
5 Quantitative Mapping and Subjective Mapping:
Free Time in Practice 95
Quantitative Mapping: What, Where, When and with Whom? 95
Habitual Practices 95
Family Time 100
Social Time 101
Subjective Mapping: The Hierarchization of Free Time 104
Relaxation: Freedom From 105
Pleasure: Freedom To 110
The Hierarchization of Free Time 116
Imagined Free Time: What Would You Do If…? 119
Discussion 126
References 130
6 The Productive Self 133
The Busy Self 134
The Vocabulary of Control and Choice 135
Multitasking: Maximizing Time 137
The Managed Self 141
Wasting Time and Self-Discipline 141
Bodywork and the Self-Gaze 143
The Therapeutic Self 148
CONTENTS ix
Reflexivity, Crossroads and Change 148
Self-Improvement and the Self-Made Self 151
Discussion 153
References 158
7 The Consuming Self 161
The Commercialization of Free Time 161
Expert Services 162
Shopping 163
Outings 172
Imagined Consumption: What Would You Do If…? 173
Discussion 175
Media and Free Time 178
Television 180
Computers 191
Cellphones 198
Modes of Resistance 204
Discussion 211
References 215
8 The Social Self 219
The Family Self 220
Free Time with One’s Spouse 220
Free Time with the Family 229
Quality Time 239
Gender Roles 247
Discussion 248
The Sociable Self 253
Sociability: Pleasure and Value 254
Sites for Socializing 261
Discussion 268
References 272
9 The Meaningful Self 277
Pleasure Versus Happiness 278
Family as a Source of Happiness 279
Giving 284