Running head: WORK AND LEISURE IN AMERICA 0

Work and Leisure in America

Students Name

Institution
WORK AND LEISURE IN AMERICA 1

Introduction

In America, leisure and work are to be earned and even re-earned. The work and leisure culture

is a typical prototype of traditional American culture. In fact, there exists a distinct rhythm between

leisure and work (Gelber, 2010). The World War II and the financial depression brought about

many imbalances in the economic sector and changed the way people approached work and leisure.

For instance, in the few years, a slight shift has been seen in the balance between entertainment

and work.

Further, with the end of slavery and adoption of modern day labor practices, leisure is part and

parcel of the modern day working community. The work-leisure dichotomy represents the

evolution of the importance of work and what it serves beyond personal work. Leisure is

universally agreed as the time that a person is free from work and the manner in which they choose

to spend their free time. The freedom of choice, however, varies from one ethnic group, in

America, to another while also having some similarities (Gelber, 2010). The African American

community in the USA, for instance, enjoys a long a unique culture relating to leisure time that is

different from both whites and the Asian community, thanks to slavery. The white city, on the

other hand, is associated with more expensive leisure activities, thanks to better wages (Alesina,

Glaeser, & Sacerdote, 2005). However, the local movements allowed for other races to enjoy

better-paying jobs and provided a shift in how leisure time is spent in the contemporary society.

In essence, the differences in how leisure time is spent have deep racial undertones with each race

in America exhibiting different ways of enjoying their leisure time based on their native culture

and historical influences. However, globalization has provided similar leisure activities that cut

across the entire racial divide for a common but still maintain their own leisure identity. In this

spirit, this project chose to focus on how people from different cultural backgrounds spend their
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leisure time, how they have adopted the American leisure culture and how, despite the influence

of the American leisure culture, they have maintained their cultural identity.

Problem Statement

Essentially, leisure is a very complicated topic that, in some instances, appears to resist logical

explanation. Studies that compare and examine relaxation cross-culturally are capable of providing

significant information to assist our understanding of this particular phenomenon. As such, with a

rising need for those kinds of studies, people have come to accept that standard scholarly

definitions and understanding of leisure may not be usefully applied or directly translate to such

research. In this regard, in this project, an examination of the concept of work and leisure forms

the basis of the study. In essence, the project focuses on how different cultural groups in America

work and spend their leisure time, and how, despite the influence of the American leisure culture,

they have managed to maintain their own leisure culture. In the examination, different cultural

practices are closely observed and personal accounts of people from diverse backgrounds

documented to understand how different cultures understand the concept of work and leisure in

America. Mainly, the project is focused on two ethnic groups in America; the African American

community, and the Asian America community.

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Methodology

For a better understanding of how the various cultural groups in the United States spend

their working hours and leisure time, this project/research paper employed the two broad

categories of ethnographic study: participation observation and key information interviewing.

Participation observation included a study of the weekly and weekend activities of the various

racial cultures in the United States accompanied by short note taking. Where possible, I

participated in some of the leisure activities to get a better understanding and collect better quality

information. However, due to time constraints, I was not able to spend enough time on participant

observation; the participant observation only lasted 60 minutes in each case. To supplement it,

information interviews were carried out with random samples of participants. Two people from

each of the named communities were asked questions regarding their understanding of work and

leisure and what they do during these times (see the interview questions in Appendix A). The

questions were aimed at understanding how their cultural differences influenced their

understanding of work and leisure and how the differences translated into the different activities

observed. These sources of data were supplemented by photography.

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Findings

Individual Observation

During the project, the focus was on the cross-cultural scenes that defined the way people from

different cultural backgrounds enjoy work and leisure. As such, the main component of the process

was the individual observation because it gave a clear aspect and description of the activities the

different communities undertake during their leisure times. In this regard, three sharp observations

were made during the ethnographic exercise. First, the ways the individual ethnic communities

maintain and spend their leisure time differ from one community to another. However, there are

specific common areas that provide leisure activities transcending the racial divide; this has been

made possible by globalization as various centers provide ordinary leisure activities that are not

defined by any culture. For instance, when I attended the Northeastern Annual Relay for Life

fundraiser event co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society, what I saw was a unified

population geared towards a common goal. The game was not defined by any culture; people from

different ethnic and cultural backgrounds were joined together for the fundraiser (see figure 1

below). Also, technology plays a central role in how all racial classes spend their leisure time.

Figure 1: People from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds gathered for a fundraiser event.
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Second, each ethnic group that was observed expressed a unique method of spending their leisure

time that was unique to that particular racial group's culture and history. For instance, African

Americas showed an affinity for music, while the Asian American community enjoyed family time

with family members both in the country and their native motherlands. Despite the differences in

how the two communities experience leisure, globalization has brought together these diverse

groups and found ordinary recreational activities that transcend their cultural differences. The

natural desire for competition and reward for more successful competitors exceeds the cultural

uniqueness that each racial group shows. For instance, their love for sports (see figure 2 below)

congregated various racial teams together as they enjoyed various sports events as one

homogenous unite.

Figure 2: People from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds gathered at a sports event.

Third, a significant portion of modern life is technology that has permeated every aspect of

modern day life so much so that it manifests leisure activities. Technology is used to both

perpetuate the individuality of leisure time and, to some extent, including leisure activities from

other groups. For Asian Indians from the Indian subcontinent, communication technology is

instrumental in maintaining ties with relatives back home, while the love for hip-hop music is

enjoyed by other racial groups, thanks to technology.

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Interviews

The second part of this project, apart from observation, was the interviews. During the

project, four participants from two different ethnic communities were interviewed. The interviews

aimed to establish their understanding of work and leisure and to what extent they try to adopt the

American leisure culture while still maintaining their own cultures. The participants were two

African Americans and two Asian Americans. The findings were as follows, as seen in the table

below:

Participants How do they spend What activities make How do they

their leisure? them interact with maintain their
other communities? culture while with
other communities?

Xing-Li Family time Sports Attend everyday

events as a group.

Chang Socializing on social Fundraisers Attend everyday

media events as a family.

Dominic Listening to music, Music concerts Attend common

sports events as a group.

Washy Going to church Sports Attend a black church

and hip-hop events.

Discussion

Cultural and historical differences play a central role in how different racial groups spend

their work and leisure time. To begin with, it is important to note that there is a universal American

culture as to how American work and spends their leisure time. Most of the Americans love sports

and music concerts. In sports, there are no cultural boundaries since they are events that bring

people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds together. Also, music is universal and
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listened to by people from all over the world. When music events are organized, the audience or

fans expected to attend the concerts are not from a specific cultural background, but from different

areas and neighborhoods. Further, compared to Europeans, Americans are more likely to take up

jobs that they enjoy doing and can do during their leisure time. During the observations, working

culture was common among all the ethnic communities. Every person was expected to provide,

and outcome for the organizations they work for and every organization expects similar results

from their employees regardless of their cultural and ethnic background. Also, for both

communities, work was mainly carried out on weekdays while leisure activities were carried out

on weekends. Also, the reason for an affinity to working overtime, according to some economist,

is attributed to strict government control of the workforce, and the regimes in Europe then make

employees prefer leisure time.

Nonetheless, each ethnic community spent their leisure time in manners that highlighted

their cultural and historical background. Culture emerged as a determinant in the way leisure time

was spent with racial groups never deviating too far. Among African Americans for instance, going

to church characterized on their top leisure activity. Historically, the church in African American

community played an important role during slavery and served as a refuge from the harsh life of

the cotton fields. African Americans also enjoyed sports a lot, though not as much as other races.

A large population of African American youth participates in football, basketball, and track events.

The inclination to sports also has historical foundations. For instance, support centers and the

government agencies provided recreational leisure activates that were free and easily accessible to

the poor communities. The Asian American community, on the other hand, showed an inclination

towards family filial duties and few individual pronounced individual leisure activities. As such,

many Asian leisure activities involved the family and kinship in both America and the native
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homeland. Leisure recreational activity was also attended by the more family groups than other

ethnic communities. The community equally plays a central role in the Asian community leisure

activities that involved a lot of food-related activity.

Further, from the interviews, the African Americans were more inclined to sports, music,

and church while the Asian Americans were more inclined to family time and technology. Also,

when the question as to how they maintain the cultural identity when adopting American leisure

culture was asked, they all responded by stating that they adopt the American leisure culture as a

group. This way, they are not likely to dilute or lose their cultural identity.

Essentially, cultural sensitivity among the various racial groups during leisure time is high,

though not conscious. The activities that the various racial groups participate in are directly related

to their cultural heritage and historical influences that they observe diligently. However, the

observations of cultural identity in leisure activity cannot be said be conscious despite the fact that

it is voluntary. Many of the racial group do not notice the differences in how they approach leisure

activity since they seem to use the same social facilities more or less equally and, therefore,

perceive the presence of other races.

Conclusion

It is true that America is a diverse country with different cultures and ethnic communities.

In as much as there are common leisure practices such as attending music concerts and sports

events, different ethnic communities still find time to practice their leisure culture, and this is seen

in the way the Asian communities stick to family unions while the African America communities

stick to church and music cultures. In essence, it is easy to distinguish different people from how
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they spend their leisure time. However, it is not easy to distinguish people by how they approach

work because this is an area that is dictated by the standard rules of engagement in the job industry.
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References

Alesina, A., Glaeser, E., & Sacerdote, B. (2005). Work and leisure in the United States and Europe:

why so different?. NBER macroeconomics annual, 20, 1-64.

Gelber, S. M. (2010). Hobbies: Leisure and the culture of work in America. Columbia University

Press.
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Appendix A: Interview Questions.

The following were the questions that the four participants were required to respond to for

the purpose of this project. The questions aimed to establish the participants perspectives of the

American leisure culture, their cultural leisure culture and how they have managed to maintain

their leisure culture despite the influence of the American leisure culture:

Questions Responses

How do you spend your leisure time?

Do your leisure activities conform to you

cultural beliefs?

What are the common activities you attend

with people from other cultural backgrounds?

How do these activities influence your leisure

culture? Do you still maintain your culture

while in these events/activities?