The Contemporary Peasants' Leisure From The Perspective Of Living Structure

This paper has discussed the leisure problem from the microscopic perspective of the tension between leisure and living structure.Through the case study and in-depth interviews with Village Z in Hubei,we investigated the current situation and changes of contemporary peasants' living structure and leisure mode.Finally,the following conclusions are drawn:1.In the underdeveloped rural areas such as Village Z,the living structure and working experience of peasants among different age-groups has presented different characteristics.(1)Old staying-behind peasants,whose living structure is gradually disintegrating: When their labor no longer makes the major economic contribution to the family' livelihood,the social structure of the village begins to ignore them,and the strong bond of social structure will become weaker.The relationship between labor and leisure in the living structure also tends to break.(2)Migratory peasant-workers,their living structure is disintegrating and then reconstructing: They have been separated from the village community by a certain degree of work in the city and embedded in the urban employment relationship,but they have been re-embedded into the village community through leisure outside the work.This led to their social relations drifting among the city market and the village field,and their living structure being rebuilt with the help of newly-mastered leisure skills.(3)Returned peasant-workers,their living structure is broken: long-term away from home and living in the city,lack of regular contact with neighbors and family members,and more deep emotional interactions.After returning home,it gets difficult for these peasant-workers to adapt to rural life,and to reconstruct their social relationship and living structures in the village.2.In this era of the rise of leisure economy,leisure began to change from a kind of consumer behavior with no market exchange value to a kind of labor product and then to a kind of commercial service or public service.Peasants' leisure needs can be self-sufficient in the natural community of the village,but now their needs rely more and more on the(government and)markets outside their natural communities to supply and satisfy.3.With the urbanization of peasant groups,from the left-behind old peasants to the returned peasant-workers to migratory peasant-workers,the changes of their leisure life show the following trends.(1)The dominant group(ie,the young and middle-aged villagers)of the expected participants in the collective leisure is not present for a long time,and daily life of the left-behind peasants is disorganized.(2)The privacy of living places: The villagers are more willing to stay at home entertaining by themselves,and the frequency of interaction with neighbors has gradually decreased.(3)The regularization of the living schedule: Afterbeing affected by the time discipline during the employment period,the villagers started learning to arrange their own labor and leisure regularly in accordance with the mechanical timescale.(4)Diversification of living forms: New media(mobile phones,computers,Internet,etc.)entering the village will undoubtedly enrich the villagers' leisure life.(5)The perception of life has changed from focusing on survival ethics to focusing on quality of life:Younger villagers are more willing to consume than older villagers,hoping to improve the living standards of their individuals and families through more and better consumption.4.The importance of leisure(and not just labor)in the living structure with the focus of productive labor is gradually becoming apparent.The proportion of time allocation of living structure begins to shift from labor/livelihood to leisure,and besides,the basic leisure is gradually replaced by the developing leisure in the village.The leisure methods of peasants are increasingly urbanized.