Leisure, social capital, and democratic citizenship

A heuristic distinction between participatory and representative democracy is applied here to examine the relationship between leisure and democratic citizenship. Different forms of leisure support different forms of democracy. The concept of social capital is proposed as a primary linkage between leisure and democracy. Leisure activity which generates social capital is more conducive to greater democracy than leisure activity which does not. Recent examinations of the content of leisure in the U.S. suggest an increase in leisure activity that does not generate social capital and thus provides only weak support for democracy. Implications of this finding for leisure research and the delivery of leisure services are explored, with the concept of social capital suggested as central to the transdisciplinary analysis of leisure's political significance.