16862

WiSe 17/18: “The coming of leisure“: The popularization and politicization of pastimes in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century

Anna Lena Kocks

Comments

Subject: By the end of the 19th century, leisure had become an issue of great importance for a majority of the population in Europe’s industrialized countries. Leisure ceased to be a privilege of the upper middle and upper classes and became increasingly democratized. A modern mass culture of pastimes emerged: sports clubs and physical culture movements were founded and rapidly increased in number, as did popular education programs, a wide variety of entertainments and youth organizations. This process, which significantly altered European cityscapes, reached a climax in the legendary “Roaring Twenties”. At the same time, leisure was a hotly disputed political issue: social reformers, charitable institutions, labour movements and political parties engaged in leisure politics. In the mid-1930s, when the report “The Coming of Leisure. The Problem in England” was published, leisure as a political topic had lost none of its importance, the fascist regimes in Italy and Germany utilized leisure programs and pastimes to convey political propaganda and to indoctrinate and mobilize the population. Program: In this course, we will investigate exemplary phenomena of the leisure boom such as trends in sports, popular culture and youth culture. We will analyse the impact of leisure on society and vice versa and discuss the role of class, age and gender. The course will trace and examine the influence of the respective political framework on leisure and thereby contextualize and critically assess this aspect of the history of everyday life. In two of the 16 sessions, we will visit exhibitions on our subject and the historical context. Is this course suitable for you? This course is open to students from the Social Sciences, Cultural Studies, Arts and Humanities. Students should be prepared to study a number of academic and literary texts as well as historical sources in English and should be interested in discussing and analysing aspects of social and cultural history. Workload and Assessment: In order to obtain 5 ECTS credits, students will have to • attend the course regularly and participate actively; • have studied the weekly course materials (an average of 10 pages of English texts per week); • give a brief presentation in class (approx. 15 minutes); • pass the written examination (90 minutes). close

16 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Fri, 10:00 - 12:00 16 Class schedule

Fri, 2017-10-20 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
Anna Lena Kocks