Original scientific paper
Education and Leisure
Rajka Polić
Abstract
In this globalised world, where people are in the service of capital and not the other way round, leisure and having leisure are shown to be something undeserving of man. The people who deserve to be praised by capitalist ideologists are workaholics and not idlers. However, even these ideologists promise periodical idle/leisure time –
which they deceivingly call free time – as a reward to those workers who industriously and successfully increase their capital. In doing so, they also offer consumer patterns, with which workers could at least seemingly give meaning to this meaningless idleness.
Yet, free time is not idle time, even though idleness is freedom from work. It is not, however, freedom from consumer manipulation. Only leisure can be truly free time as free time for playing and creativity, during which man affirms him/herself as a historical being open to the future.
In its thirst for new and more abundant sources of profit, capital is faced with the paradox that exactly excessive work becomes its main obstacle. Since, unlike work, creativity can not be extorted. Creativity can only be stimulated, and the conditions of creativity can only be prepared. The fundamental condition of creativity is exactly free time for creativity, i.e. leisure. Thus, the question is whether leisure and having leisure would finally, even if under pressure of the need of capital for profit, gain a worthy place in education.
Keywords
Creativity; free time; idleness; leisure; study
Hrčak ID:
6269
URI
Publication date:
16.1.2004.
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