Leisure Matters: Exploring Leisure in a Changing World

Leisure Matters: Exploring Leisure in a Changing World follows in the footsteps of the three previous editions of the book—Mapping the Past, Charting the Future (1989), Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty‑First Century (1999), and Leisure Matters: The State and Future of Leisure Studies (2016). The book's main purpose—to provide a state‑of‑the‑art overview of the state of leisure studies, specifically in terms of our current understanding of over 40 different leisure concepts, topics, and areas—has remained the same as previous editions. The book provides an update on the evolution of research on these topics and includes chapters on the new, emerging scholarship and current developments in the discipline in light of the COVID‑19 pandemic and related health issues, new work‑leisure balance, emergence and popularization of new technologies, social movements such as Black Lives Matter, and climate change.

The volume consists of 45 chapters, divided into four sections꞉ Exploring Leisure, Experiencing Leisure, Delivering Leisure, and Future Trends in Leisure. Leisure Matters: Exploring Leisure in a Changing World is intended to serve as an introduction to research in our field for senior undergraduate and graduate students and a quick reference on current issues in research for leisure scholars. We hope we maintained the spirit and rigor of the previous editions of the book and, at the same time, provided much‑needed updates and treatment of the new topics that emerged or gained importance in the last seven years.