Recreation and Leisure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Recreation and Leisure - Essay Example The main reason that has led to these changes is change in economy and technology with time. During times of excellent economic growth, people had more cash to spend in leisure while hard economic times are characterized by increased working time and reduced leisure time. Additionally, the working environment has changed enabling people to participate in work and leisure activities in the same context. This is common particularly for businesspersons who can be in a business trip and mange to create some time in between for recreation purposes. This paper is a description of how the changing socio-economic conditions and major cultural developments, has affected the relationship between work and leisure. The paper will focus on how work and leisure have been evolving in Western societies from the medieval times until the present. Our oldest ancestors, the hunter and gathers, had no clear distinction between work and leisure. The two activities accompanied each other with no specific time set for work or leisure. The two activities we blended irrespective of the fact that there was some minimal understanding of what work or leisure was. However, the terms work and leisure were non-existent and even though people engaged in activities we now consider as leisure, the early people did not have specified activities to engage in for relaxation purposes. The distinction between the two has evolved greatly over time such that work and leisure are completely distinguishable in the contemporary western society. Amongst the Greeks, activities such as farming that we now consider as work was considered as some sort of religious activities that was a sacred undertaking1. In the medieval period, there was great separation in the roles played by men from those played by females. However, there was no clear distinction between work and leisure. Activities such as dancing,