Leisure In The Modern World

LEISURE IN THE MODERN WORLD BY C. DELISLE BURNS THE CENTURY CO, NEW YORK LONDON COPYRIGHT, 1932, BY THE CENTURY CO AEL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHl TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR PORTIONS THEREOF, IN ANY FORM. 392 PREFACE Leisure is a favorite subject with preachers for all preachers know what other people - ought to do. But this book is not a sermon. It is an attempt at analyzing certain new tendencies in the actual uses of leisure in what is here called the modern world. The modern world, for this purpose, means the complex of new customs and attitudes, which has arisen, out of the earlier industrialism, within the past half century. Older uses of leisure therefore are referred to here, only by way of contrast. But the analysis of facts is followed by a discussion of new social ideals and the second part of the book deals with contemporary tendencies in social move ments and current social standards. The book is based upon a series of Talks which I gave on the Radio from Glasgow and London in 1932. I have retained the informality of radio speech but added some sections that would not so easily be followed on the radio. The argument of the book runs thus. Recent changes in the amount of leisure and in its uses have caused social tend encies toward experimentalism in daily life, toward equality and toward movements which aim at modifying the traditional position of women, of children, and of the youthful. There is now a pos vi PREFACE sibility of a new type of civilized life, not depend ent upon a leisured class but arising directly from the leisure of those who work for a living. This civ ilization would be democratic if that obscure word may be used to mark the contrast with allformer civilizations all of which have been based upon the assumptions of a slave society. The student of the social sciences will understand that this book is an essay in culture, not in political science nor in economics. But it may be worth not ing that, from one point of view, it is 3 study of consumption. Unfortunately the social sciences are still so completely dominated by economics that even the words consumption or use may be misinterpreted. The obsolete psychology which un derlies the terminology of modern economics and of the traditional political science cannot be cor rected here but I do not assume that any of the authorities in these subjects are competent to pro vide the language adequate for the interpretation of modern life. Differences in consumption, which is often confused with distribution, and in use are qualitative and cannot be rendered statis tically. But social sciences which omit to note the methods of cooking potatoes in their concentration upon the price of potatoes, are quite futile as bases for public policy. With such economics it is quite easy to prove that we cannot afford leisure or ed ucation indeed it is doubtful whether we can afford to live I have added in an appendix a very few of the PREFACE vii letters which were written to me, while I gave the series of Talks, because they indicate the sort of evidence on which I have drawn, in my visits to many different social circles in Europe and America. C. DELISLE BURNS London, England June 10, 1932 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE INCREASE OF LEISURE . . 3 Recent increase in amount of leisure and in the number of ways of using it, due to certain economic and sociological changes. But the new leisure itselfbecomes a source of new changes in social customs and standards. H. THE NEW FOOD AND CLOTHING 17 A higher level of common comfort in new foods and new clothing, as well as more similar customs, has promoted a tendency toward ex perimentalism in everyday life. III. THE HOME IN THE MODERN WORLD 36 As an instrument for living, the house and its furnishings are being changed to meet modern needs and as a complex of human, relationships the home is changing in the relation of hus band and wife and in that of parent and child...