Special Lecture on Global Society II

This is a course on the hegemonic power struggles that play out in leisure, with a particular emphasis on the role of media technology. This course will start with a brief introduction to leisure studies as a discipline followed by the bulk of the semester spent on reading specific studies on leisure and media in the 20th and 21st century. While the readings may primarily cover phenomenon in the United States, participants will be strongly encouraged to think of the specificity of the impact of globalization on leisure and media in various regions of the world including Japan.

The course objectives are the following:
- Gain insight into the significance of leisure as a central concept for academic inquiry
- Gain a deeper understanding on how power is institutionalized in society through leisure, such as in the form of regulatory structures, normative mechanisms, and representation
- Gain insight into the mechanisms of inculcation through everyday media
- Gain insight into the impact that globalization has had on leisure and media

Topics will include the following among others: racial, ethnic and other social minorities; gender; class; tourism; cinema; television; representation; serious leisure; volunteerism; regional, transnational and international ecosystems of leisure culture; leisure and technology.