Work and leisure in higher education

Abstract

Higher education is commonly described as offering combinations of work and leisure, but the implied relationship is often limited. Different conceptions of leisure, especially leisure as pleasurable experience, raise new possibilities for seeing academic activity itself as leisure in several important senses. The importance of identifying pleasure as a necessary component of work and politics is discussed. Several more specific approaches to try to understand such pleasures are reviewed: Cultural Studies approaches, the work of Bourdieu on taste, and some recent work in the Sociology of Leisure.

University and Leisure—A Commentary and My Broad Thoughts

“…Affirming the above personally-expressed views, Harris ( 2012 ) holds that ‘The pleasures available in academic work can seem irrelevant in the in the emerging crisis’. If this is correct, what obligations do universities, and by implication university leaders have to provide a path to the good life for employees?…”