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 LEISURE
STUDIES
IN A
GLOBAL
Global Leisure ERA

and the Struggle

for a Better World
Edited by
ANJU BENIWAL
RASHMI JAIN &
KARL SPRACKLEN
Leisure Studies in a Global Era

Series Editors
Karl Spracklen
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds, UK

Karen Fox
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
In this book series, we defend leisure as a meaningful, theoretical, fram-
ing concept; and critical studies of leisure as a worthwhile intellectual and
pedagogical activity. This is what makes this book series distinctive: we
want to enhance the discipline of leisure studies and open it up to a richer
range of ideas; and, conversely, we want sociology, cultural geographies
and other social sciences and humanities to open up to engaging with
critical and rigorous arguments from leisure studies. Getting beyond con-
cerns about the grand project of leisure, we will use the series to demon-
strate that leisure theory is central to understanding wider debates about
identity, postmodernity and globalisation in contemporary societies
across the world. The series combines the search for local, qualitatively
rich accounts of everyday leisure with the international reach of debates
in politics, leisure and social and cultural theory. In doing this, we will
show that critical studies of leisure can and should continue to play a
central role in understanding society. The scope will be global, striving to
be truly international and truly diverse in the range of authors and topics.
Editorial Board: John Connell, Professor of Geography, University of
Sydney, USA; Yoshitaka Mori, Associate Professor, Tokyo University of
the Arts, Japan; Smitha Radhakrishnan, Assistant Professor, Wellesley
College, USA; Diane M. Samdahl, Professor of Recreation and Leisure
Studies, University of Georgia, USA; Chiung-Tzu Lucetta Tsai, Associate
Professor, National Taipei University, Taiwan; Walter van Beek, Professor
of Anthropology and Religion, Tilburg University, The Netherlands;
Sharon D. Welch, Professor of Religion and Society, Meadville Theological
School, Chicago, USA; Leslie Witz, Professor of History, University of
the Western Cape, South Africa.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14823
 Anju Beniwal • Rashmi Jain
Karl Spracklen
Editors

Global Leisure and

the Struggle for a
Better World
Editors
Anju Beniwal Rashmi Jain
Government Meera Girls College Department of Sociology
Rajasthan, India University of Rajasthan
Jaipur, India
Karl Spracklen
School of Film, Music & Performing Arts
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds, UK

Leisure Studies in a Global Era

ISBN 978-3-319-70974-1    ISBN 978-3-319-70975-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70975-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018933136

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018

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 Contents

1 Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure   1

Anju Beniwal, Rashmi Jain, and Karl Spracklen

Section I Local Leisure: Meaning and Resistance   19

2 Sexlessness Among Contemporary Japanese Couples  21

Alice Pacher

3 Singing Group: The Playful Present in Health Promotion  49

Miraíra Noal Manfroi, Adriana Aparecida da Fonseca Viscardi,
Daliana Stephanie Lecuona, Giandra Anceski Bataglion,
Verônica Werle, Juliana de Paula Figueiredo, and Alcyane
Marinho

4 Celebratıon of Ramadan: The Case of Turkey  75

Zuhal Yonca Odabas and Günnur Ertong Attar

v
vi Contents

5 Youth Well-Being and Leisure Time: An International

Perspective  95
Anju Beniwal

Section II Virtual Leisure and Pop Culture 115

6 Japanese Idol Culture for ‘Contents Tourism’ and

Regional Revitalization: A Case Study of Regional Idols 117
Yuki Tajima

7 Being There, Being Someone Else: Leisure and Identity

in the Age of Virtual Reality 141
Jonathan Harth

8 Video Games in the Family Context: How Do Digital

Media Influence the Relationship Between Children
and Their Parents? 161
M. A. Damian Gałuszka

9 Projecting Gender and Sexuality Through the Nigerian

Music Industry 185
Aretha Oluwakemi Asakitikpi

10 Doing Manga as Leisure and Its Meaning and Purpose:

The Case of Japanese Female Manga Fans Called Fujoshi 201
Hiromi Tanaka and Saori Ishida

Section III Global Leisure and Responses 219

11 The Globalization of Comic-Con and the Sacralization

of Popular Culture 221
Michael A. Elliott
 Contents
   vii

12 Examination of Leisure and Practical Environmental

Education in Japan 243
Munehiko Asamizu

13 Internalizing Serious Leisure to Enhance Well-Being

in Adventure Recreation 267
KoFan Lee

14 Leisure and Meaning-Making: The Pursuit

of a Meaningful Life Through Leisure 287
Yoshitaka Iwasaki

15 Conclusion 303
Anju Beniwal, Rashmi Jain, and Karl Spracklen

I ndex 311
 List of Contributors

Aretha Oluwakemi Asakitikpi Dr has been a lecturer in various universities in

Nigeria her home country as well as in South Africa where she has taught in the
field of communication, gender as well as cultural studies. Her major area of
research is media representations where she considers aspects such as leisure
practices as depicted in various forms ranging from traditional art forms to more
contemporary media forms such as the mass media.
Munehiko Asamizu Dr is an Associate Professor of Tourism Geography at
Yamaguchi University. He received his PhD and MA from the Graduate School
of International Studies, J. F. Oberlin University and BA from the Faculty of
Education, Akita University. He currently teaches International Tourism Policy,
Ethnicity, and Sociology. His major published works are “World Travel and
Japanese Tourists (Gakubunsha, Tokyo 2005)”, “Global Tourism (Kumpul,
Tokyo 2010)”, and “Tourists, International Students and Global Workforces
(Saganoshoin, Kyoto 2017)”.
Ertong Attar Dr completed her undergraduate studies in Bilkent University’s
Department of Economics in 2003 and her master’s level studies in Ankara
University’s Department of Economics in 2005. She received her doctoral degree
from the Department of Sociology in Ankara University. From 2007 to 2012,
Dr. Ertong Attar worked in various units of the Ministry of Health and between
2012 and 2016 she worked at Scientific and Technological Research Council of
Turkey. In June 2016, Dr. Ertong Attar was appointed to Mersin University’s
Department of Sociology as an assistant professor. She is currently a board

ix
x List of Contributors

­ ember of the Sociological Association of Turkey and a member of European

m
Sociological Association and of International Sociological Association. She is
currently an editorial board member of the Journal of Sociological Research.
Her research focuses on sociology of health and illness, trust, violence, and the
relationship between technology and social change.
Giandra Anceski Bataglion graduated in Physical Education from Federal
University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) (2013) and received her master’s in Theory
and Pedagogical Practice in Physical Education from Federal University of Santa
Catarina (PPGEF/UFSC) (2016). She is a member of Leisure and Physical
Activity Research Laboratory (LAPLAF/CEFID/UDESC/CNPq) and a mem-
ber of the Nucleus of Research in Sports Pedagogy (NUPPE/CDS/UFSC) and
the Adapted Motor Activity Programme (AMA/CDS/UFSC). She has experi-
ence in physical education in the subjects of adapted motor activity, ludic, play
and playthings.
Anju Beniwal Dr studies are in anthropology and sociology. She is an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Sociology, Government Meera Girls College.
She has been actively engaged in community-based research, with over 14 years
teaching experience. Areas of specialization include tribal welfare, rural develop-
ment, women’s issues and leisure studies. She is the coordinator of SPD-RUSA-­
DISHARI Scheme for Capacity Building and Employment Enhancement. Her
work has appeared in 45 articles in various referred and professional journals
and in 7 books. She is also a life member of various academic bodies. She has
actively presented her views in conferences both in her country and abroad. She
is a board member of Research Committee 13 (Sociology of Leisure) of the
International Sociological Association.
Michael A. Elliott is Associate Professor of Sociology at Towson University
(United States) and specializes in globalization, world history and social theory.
He has published on the global expansion of human rights and world heritage
as well as the development of monastic beer brewing in the Middle Ages and its
connection to modern craft beer. Currently, he is working on a project about the
sacred dimensions of fan communities and designing a survey of fan conven-
tioneers in the United States.
Adriana Aparecida da Fonseca Viscardi graduated in Physical Education
from State University of Santa Catarina (CEFID/UDESC) (2015). She was an
extension and scientific initiation fellow at the Laboratory of Gerontology and
had a fellowship of scientific initiation at the Leisure and Physical Activity
Research Laboratory (LAPLAF/CEFID/UDESC/CNPq), participating in the
 List of Contributors
   xi

project, “The playfulness and rehabilitation in public and private institutions of

Florianópolis (SC)”. She has experience in physical education, in concentrating
on seniors and on nature adventure activities. She will begin her master’s degree
at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in 2017.
Damian Gałuszka is a PhD student at the Institute of Sociology of the
Jagiellonian University in Poland, a graduate of Sociology at the Faculty of
Humanities of the AGH University of Science and Technology, and a member
of the Collegium Invisibile association, where he completed the tutorial on
video games. An initiator and co-organizer of the national conference
“Technological and Social Aspects of the Twenty-First century”, an author of a
book on video games in Polish families titled Video Games in the Family
Environment. Diagnosis and Recommendations, and a co-author of two mono-
graphs: Technoculture: Transhumanism and Digital Art, and Technological and
Social Aspects of the Twenty-first Century. He was awarded the scholarship of the
Polish Minister of National Education and the Florian Znaniecki prize of the
Polish Sociological Association for his master’s thesis. He is interested in digital
media and STS studies.
Jonathan Harth Dr studied sociology, philosophy and psychology at the Freie
Universität Berlin and the University of Vienna. Since 2009 he has been work-
ing as a research fellow at the Chair of Sociology at Witten/Herdecke University.
Harth’s topics of interest are sociology of technology (especially computer games
and virtual reality) and sociology of religion (Western Buddhism).
Saori Ishida is a project researcher at the Gender Center of the School of
Information and Communication, Meiji University, Tokyo. She completed a
PhD program at the Graduate School of Information and Communication,
Meiji University. Her research focuses on Japanese subculture, particularly
manga and anime female fandom.
Yoshi Iwasaki Dr has approximately 20 years of experience in community-­
based research, capacity-building, and knowledge mobilization. His areas of spe-
cialization include: (a) culture, diversity and community engagement; (b) active
living and quality of life (e.g., meaning-making, mental health and leisure); and
(c) participatory action research (PAR) to address social justice issues (e.g.,
human rights, social exclusion/inclusion, discrimination, marginalization/stig-
matization and empowerment). With over $5 million external research support
including federal grants from NIH, SSHRC and CIHR, his work has appeared
in over 90 refereed academic and professional journal articles. Dr. Iwasaki’s
research teams have worked with and engaged indigenous peoples, culturally
xii List of Contributors

diverse ‘high-risk’ youth, and persons with disabilities, including psychiatric dis-
ability/mental illness, to address globally significant issues (e.g., social change
through engagement, meaning-making and mental health) by giving attention
to a local context while integrating the scholarship of engagement, social learn-
ing theory and social justice perspectives within a community of co-learning,
power-sharing and practice.
Rashmi Jain Dr is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, as well
as Director, University Grants Commission (UGC) Centre for the Study of
Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, at the University of Rajasthan. Her inter-
ests are in leisure studies, development communication, gender studies, and
sociology of law. She is also Deputy Coordinator in the UGC SAP DRS II on
the theme “Society and culture of Rajasthan under the impact of globalization”.
She has regularly taken part in conferences and seminars both in the country
and abroad, and she has been active in organizing national and international
conferences. She has published three books and over 40 research articles. She is
a Convener of the research committee on Sociology of Law of the Indian
Sociological Society. Besides being an academician, she has worked to raise her
voice for destitute women and citizen’s issues by collaborating with civil society
organizations of Rajasthan. She is also member of the Ethics committee for
clinical trials at Monilek Hospital and Research Centre and a member of several
bodies of the university and state government.
Daliana Stephanie Lecuona graduated in Physical Education from State
University of Santa Catarina (CEFID/UDESC) (2016). She is currently a mas-
ter’s student in the Postgraduate Program in Human Movement Sciences at
UDESC. She is a member of Leisure and Physical Activity Research Laboratory
(LAPLAF/CEFID/UDESC/CNPq). She has experience in physical education
concentrating on cooperative games, leisure and recreation, public health and
health promotion.
KoFan Lee Dr received his doctoral degree of leisure behavior at Indiana
University in 2013. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Recreation
Administration at the University of Mississippi. His primary research interest
focuses on quality of motivation, commitments and identity development, and
positive experiences acquired from serious pursuits in adventure recreation.
Miraíra Noal Manfroi graduated in Physical Education from Federal
University of Mato Grosso do Sul (2011), with a master’s in Theory and
Pedagogical Practice in Physical Education (UFSC) (2015). She is currently a
 List of Contributors
   xiii

doctoral student in the Postgraduate Programme in Physical Education at

Federal University of Santa Catarina (PPGEF/UFSC), And she is a member of
the Leisure and Physical Activity Research Laboratory (LAPLAF/CEFID/
UDESC/CNPq), member of the Nucleus of Research in Sports Pedagogy
(NUPPE/CDS/UFSC) and of the Observatory of Sports Media (LABOMIDIA/
CDS/UFSC). She has experience in physical education in the subjects of child,
ludic, play and leisure.
Alcyane Marinho Dr is a Lecturer in the Physical Education Department and
in the Postgraduate Program in Human Movement Sciences at State University
of Santa Catarina (UDESC) in Brazil., where she is leader of Leisure and Physical
Activity Research Laboratory (LAPLAF/CEFID/UDESC/CNPq). She com-
pleted her bachelor’s degree in Physical Education at São Paulo State University
(UNESP) in 1995, her master’s degree in 2001 and her PhD in 2006 at
Campinas State University (UNICAMP) in Brazil. She is also a lecturer in the
Postgraduate Program in Physical Education at the Federal University of Santa
Catarina (UFSC), focusing on “Pedagogical Theory and Practice in Physical
Education”. Her research interests developed from professional experiences
focusing on leisure and education.
Zuhal Yonca Odabaş graduated from the Undergraduate Program of Sociology
Department of Ankara University in 2000, and received a master’s degree in
METU Sociology Department as well as a doctorate in Ankara University
Sociology Department. Odabaş served as a Research Assistant at the Sociology
Department of the University of Ankara between 2002 and 2010 and as Assistant
Professor in the same department between 2010 and 2012. She worked as an
academic staffer at Atatürk University, Sociology Department, between 2012
and 2015. Odabaş, who received the title of Associate Professor in 2014, is cur-
rently working on the academic staff in the Sociology Department of Çankırı
Karatekin University. Her research interests are sociology of health and illness,
sociology of disaster, disaster risk management, social problems, gender studies,
children studies, youth studies, sociology of motherhood, sociology of educa-
tion an methodology studies.
Alice Pacher is a PhD candidate at the Department of Clinical Psycho-social
Science, Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan. She completed her master’s degree at
Meiji University in 2014, and her bachelor’s at the University of Vienna, Austria,
in 2011. Her main research focuses on Japanese couple relationships (married
and unmarried) in contemporary times, with particular attention to sexual
xiv List of Contributors

behavior and sexual consciousness among Japanese men and women from a soci-
ological perspective. Past research refers to how sexual behaviour and conscious-
ness of Japanese couples in the ages of the 20s and 30s has changed in recent years
and in exploring the social influences behind this phenomenon. Since 2016,
research expanded to comparative sociology regarding sexuality in Japan and in
the German-speaking countries (with a main focus on Germany and Austria).
Juliana de Paula Figueiredo graduated in Physical Education from Campinas
Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) (2009). She received her MA in Motricity
from São Paulo State University (PPGCM/UNESP) (2012). She is currently a
doctoral student in the Postgraduate Program in Physical Education at Federal
University of Santa Catarina (PPGEF/UFSC). She is a Member of Leisure and
Physical Activity Research Laboratory (LAPLAF/CEFID/UDESC/CNPq) and
Leisure Studies Laboratory (LEL/UNESP/Rio Claro). She has experience in
physical education, concentrating in the following subjects: leisure and recre-
ation, adventure activities, technologies and media, environmental education,
games and play environmental awareness.
Karl Spracklen PhD, is a Professor of Music, Leisure and Culture at Leeds
Beckett University, and the author of over 90 books, papers and book chapters
on leisure. He is the Secretary of Research Committee 13 (Sociology of Leisure)
of the International Sociological Association. He is also a co-founder of the
International Society for Metal Music Studies and the editor of the journal
Metal Music Studies.
Yuki Tajima is a PhD and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Study of
the Creative Economy at Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan. His research fields
are Media Studies, Popular Culture and Gender Studies. He is currently teach-
ing Outline of Media Studies, History of Media, and Theory of Tourism and
Media at universities in the Kansai area, Japan. His main publications are: A
History of Idol in Japanese Media (shinwasha, 2017-3), Japanese Idol Culture for
Regional Revitalization : A Case Study about the Performance of Regional Idols
(Social Science Review (119), 2016-12).
Hiromi Tanaka is an associate professor at the School of Information and
Communication, Meiji University, Tokyo. She received her PhD in Sociology
from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. She specializes in gender analysis of
Japanese society and culture with a focus on media, leisure and popular
culture.
 List of Contributors
   xv

Verônica Werle graduated in Physical Education from University Center

UNIVATES, Brazil (2008). She has a master’s degree in Physical Education
from Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) (2011). She is currently doc-
toral student in the Postgraduate Program in Education at Federal University of
Santa Catarina (PPGE/UFSC), a Member of the Leisure and Physical Activity
Research Laboratory (UDESC/CNPq) and the Education and Contemporary
Society Studies Research Group (UFSC). She has experience in physical educa-
tion, and her research interest is in leisure and recreation, pedagogical practices,
gender and public policy.
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Made by the author 39

Fig. 12.1 Rental farm gardens 1992–2015 (Source: Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 2016) 247
Fig. 12.2 Location of rental farm gardens (2015) (n = 4223;
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
2016)247
Fig. 12.3 Green tourism facilities lodgers in Japan 2005–2013
(10,000 people) (Source: MAFF 2015, p. 28) 248
Fig. 12.4 Elementary students attending Japanese government
rural visit projects 2008–2013 (1000 people) (Source:
Yamaguchi Prefecture 2015, p. 8) 251
Fig. 12.5 Foreign visitor lodgers in Japan 2011–2014 (Source:
MLIT 2015, p. 53) 251
Fig. 12.6 Nights lodged in the Niseko Sightseeing Zone 2009–
2013 (Source: MLIT 2015, p. 61) 252
Fig. 12.7 Map of Yamaguchi (Source: Made by Asamizu) 257
Fig. 12.8 Rural educational tourists in Yamaguchi Prefecture
2010–2014 (People) (Source: Yamaguchi Prefecture
2015, p. 12) 258
Fig. 12.9 YU students (as of December 2015, n = 10,209) (Source:
Yamaguchi University 2015) 259
Fig. 12.10 Student volunteer guides from YU, World Scout
Jamboree 2015 (n = 54) (Source: author) 259

xvii
xviii List of Figures

Fig. 12.11 Student monitoring volunteers from YU, Mine City

2013–2015 (n = 60) (Source: author) 260
Photo 12.12 Mine monitoring tour (Photo by author, Akiyoshidai,
November 2014) 260
Fig. 12.13 Student monitoring volunteers from YU, Hagi Okan
2015–2016 (n = 32) (Source: author) 261
Photo 12.14 Hagi Okan monitoring tour (Photo by author,
Hanchomon, December 2015) 261
 List of Tables

Table 6.1 List of regional idols (by the author) 126

Table 6.2 Summary of the surveys (by the author) 127
Table 12.1 National Institution for Youth Education 249
Table 12.2 Department of Sport and Leisure Management 253
Table 12.3 Major tourism schools in Japan 254

xix
 1
Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure
Anju Beniwal, Rashmi Jain, and Karl Spracklen

The present collection highlights the diversity and reach of global leisure
studies and global leisure theory, exploring the impact of globalization on
leisure, and the sites of resistance and accommodation found in local and
virtual leisure spaces. This edited collection brings together the best
papers delivered at the Research Committee Thirteen (Sociology of
Leisure, RC13) sessions at the International Sociological Association’s
Third Forum of Sociology in Vienna. The editors are members of RC13’s
executive board, and the lead editor, Spracklen, is RC13’s Secretary and
Vice-President for Publications. This volume, endorsed by RC13, is the

A. Beniwal (*)
Department of Sociology, Government Meera Girls College,
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
R. Jain
Department of Sociology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
K. Spracklen
School of Film, Music and Performing Arts, Leeds Beckett University,
Leeds, UK

© The Author(s) 2018 1

A. Beniwal et al. (eds.), Global Leisure and the Struggle for a Better World, Leisure
Studies in a Global Era, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70975-8_1
2 A. Beniwal et al.

second coming out of RC13/ISA, published by Palgrave in Leisure Studies

in a Global Era. The first collection in the series was edited by Benkő,
Modi and Tarkó (2017). Unlike other edited collections on leisure stud-
ies, this one focuses strongly on leisure as a form of popular culture; also
unlike other such collections, it represents a large and diverse leisure
scholarship, one that is growing beyond the West—especially in India
and Japan.
There is a long tradition of leisure studies in academic circles around
the world and a strong history of edited collections, monographs and
textbooks about leisure. Historically, leisure studies has had a multidisci-
plinary lens and a strong socio-cultural theory running through it, in
parts; but its dominant mode of inquiry and theorizing has been positiv-
ist, scientific, managerial and practical. The older form of leisure studies,
that which is associated with leisure sciences, leisure management and
active recreation, continues to operate in some areas of the world, but it
has been sidelined by the rapid growth in offshoots of leisure studies such
as events management, sport management and sport studies. Yet, in the
last ten years we’ve seen a renaissance of interest in critical leisure studies,
drawing on interdisciplinary approaches owing as much to sociology,
geography and cultural studies as to leisure studies. In July 2016, record
numbers of delegates to the International Sociological Association’s Third
Forum of Sociology in Vienna attended sessions on the sociology of lei-
sure. These were as likely to feature discussions of hyper-reality as physi-
cal fitness. New conferences are appearing, critiquing the notion of leisure
vis-à-vis socio-cultural theory and historiography. Such a conference took
place at the Sorbonne in November 2015. Despite once predicting the
demise of leisure studies, Chris Rojek continues to write theoretical work
on the intersections of leisure, sociology and culture, and, as an editor at
Sage, he continues to publish such work (Rojek 2010, 2013; see also
Bramham and Wagg 2014). Taylor and Francis run the highly successful
journal Leisure Studies, which has a strong record of downloads and sub-
missions; it has made a significant impact on the field. The T&F portfo-
lio of leisure journals has increased in the last few years, taking on Annals
of Leisure Research, Leisure/Loisir and World Leisure Journal. Additionally,
Palgrave Macmillan publishes the interdisciplinary Leisure Studies in a
Global Era book series, which, as mentioned, includes this collection.
 Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure 3

Leisure studies, then, is expanding and growing even though the num-
ber of leisure studies degrees, courses and programs is falling: Leisure
studies are now taught far beyond its original place in university struc-
tures. This collection captures the move from the discipline as being
merely studies about recreation to those encompassing research on global,
local and virtual leisure, shedding light on matters of philosophy, theol-
ogy, anthropology, history, psychology, sociology and cultural studies.
This drawing on leisure theory beyond leisure studies is happening at the
same time as the increasing ‘criticalization’ of leisure studies degrees and
related degrees in sport, events and tourism. Researchers in leisure studies
and the related subject fields are applying complex theory to their work
and to their teaching—as reflected in the present book.
After the Vienna conference, the editors of this volume invited each of
the 120 presenters at RC13 sessions to submit an abstract to this collec-
tion. The result, seen here, demonstrates the strength of the sociology of
leisure and leisure studies worldwide. This collection demonstrates the
critical nature of the field and the growing maturity of theories of leisure
in local, virtual and global spaces. The book concludes with a brief con-
struction of a new theory of global, local and virtual leisure space in the
ongoing counterhegemonic struggle for a better world. The thirteen
chapters of the book serve as signposts for a new sociology of leisure—a
new kind of leisure studies for a new century.
The book has three sections, loosely focused on local leisure (local lei-
sure, meaning and resistance), virtual leisure (virtual leisure and pop cul-
ture) and global leisure (global leisure and responses). These organizing
concepts run through each chapter, and the reader might view the struc-
ture as bringing similar research and theories close to one another, and
not as a corset that constrains the book.

The Structure of the Book

Section One, Local Leisure, Meaning and Resistance, maps out how lei-
sure is experienced and constructed in local spaces and cultures—which
are in turn shaped by trans-local and global forms. Section Two, Virtual
Leisure and Pop Culture, explores how leisure is shaped by trends in
4 A. Beniwal et al.

v­ irtuality and in wider forms of popular culture. The final section, Global
Leisure and Responses, shows how global leisure is being constructed
under new conditions in the world.

Section One: Local Leisure, Meaning and Resistance

 hapter Two: Sexlessness Among Contemporary Japanese

C
Couples

Alice Pacher
Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan

The research in the second chapter of our book examines the current situ-
ation of the sexless phenomenon among Japanese couples. The chapter
first reviews the previous range of studies that dealt with the topic of
sexual consciousness and sexual behaviour of men and women in con-
temporary Japanese society. In the second part, the chapter aims at a
deeper understanding of the sexless phenomenon by using interviews
conducted with 35 young Japanese adults, of both sexes, in their 20s to
30s. Most of the younger adults show a tendency to avoid sexual expres-
sion, primarily for three reasons: previous negative experiences, such as
pain during sexual intercourse, lack of physical contact with their part-
ners, and disinterest expressed by their partner. Interviewees who are sex-
less do not regard sexuality as an important form of communication
within the couple relationship. Pacher argues that in Japan sex among
couples is not seen as a recreational time activity. Men and women prefer
leisure activities that can be enjoyed alone to activities involving sexual
intimacy. Some interviewees of both age groups prefer to have sex outside
of the relationship, such as by dating another person or through the use
of sexual services, which is understood to be a leisure activity. The inter-
viewees had in common exposure to an overabundance of pornography
and to sexual services, as well as a lack of education regarding sexual
health or sexual satisfaction.
 Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure 5

 hapter Three: Singing Group: The Playful Present in Health

C
Promotion

Miraíra Noal Manfroi1,2, Adriana Aparecida da Fonseca Viscardi2, Daliana

Stephanie Lecuona2, Giandra Anceski Bataglion2, Verônica Werle2,
Juliana de Paula Figueiredo1,2, and Alcyane Marinho1,2
1
PPGEF/CDS/UFSC, Brazil
2
LAPLAF/CEFID/UDESC, Brazil

The training, education and outlook of most health professionals does

not collectively take into consideration educational and humanistic per-
spectives. However, through a more human-centred action, hospitals and
other institutions whose focus is health promotion and rehabilitation
may be able to produce knowledge, health and life quality improvement
for the people they serve. This chapter is part of the authors’ wider
research aiming to investigate relations between the ludic component of
health care and the rehabilitation process, treatment and health promo-
tion. Their subject is a singing group made up of volunteers and profes-
sionals at a public health institution in Florianópolis (Santa Catarina,
southern Brazil). As such, this study is configured as field research, pre-
senting itself as descriptive and exploratory, with a qualitative approach.
The participants in the study were responsible for the group, the assisted
patients and their families. For data collection, the team used an array of
systematic observation and semi-structured interviews. From the data,
categories will be developed for content analysis. Preliminary data reveals
that weekly visits by a group of social workers, nurses, volunteers and
others to the homes of people with contributed to the recovery process.
The group played instruments and sang. The effectiveness of this approach
was evident in the grateful words, smiles and hugs by patients and family.
In addition, the groups who performed this activity reported that they
felt in a constant healing process. From this perspective, one sees the
importance of reevaluating the educational process of professionals in
health fields and the need to value a humanization of therapeutic
initiatives.
6 A. Beniwal et al.

Chapter Four: Celebration of Ramadan: The Case of Turkey

Zuhal Yonca Odabas1 and Günnur Ertong Attar2

1
Cankiri Karatekin University, Çankırı Merkez/Çankırı, Turkey
2
Department of Sociology, Mersin University, Yenişehir/Mersin, Turkey

Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims around the world. During that
month, Muslims aver that the God (Allah) is more forgiving than at the
other times of the year. Among the many reasons for this belief is that the
Quran, Islam’s holy book, was revealed during this month. Ramadan
entails much more than abstaining from food and drink: it is a time to
purify the soul, refocus attention on God and practice self-discipline and
sacrifice. It aims to teach the practitioner self-control, and it provides an
insight into the light of the poor. Ramadan is also the month of celebra-
tion. Because of its religious importance, in social life it is possible to find
different kinds of events that tie Muslims to each other in the name of
Allah. It is the time of creating and re-creating the idea and the feeling of
‘we’ in both public and personal spheres. In Turkey, the meaning of
Ramadan has been changing since the beginning of 2000s. During the
time of the AK Party’s power, conservatism in both public and private
spheres has started to become more visible. Religion and all kinds of reli-
gious activities are no longer ‘the other’, different from past times of secu-
lar political power, when it was not accepted as normal in the public
sphere but allowed in the private sphere. This transformation includes
Ramadan. Its celebrations, which are in part taken from both Turkish and
Islamic traditions, have been more legal in public than they were nearly
15 years ago.
This content of the fourth chapter is at the intersection of various sub-
fields of sociology, such as the sociology of religion, of leisure and of cel-
ebration. Symbolic interactionism is the basic theoretical perspective,
which is well suited to aiding the understanding of the fluid relationships
between religions and social structures religions and cultural change, and
the personal transformations experienced by the individual moving
between religious systems of meaning. In addition to this theoretical
 Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure 7

­erspective, Victor Turner’s arguments and concepts of festivals and

p
­liminality serve as an aide to understand the construction of identity at a
personal level. This paper describes Ramadan as ‘a storytelling narrative’
that helps people connect to their pasts, for example, to their own child-
hood. It is accepted that recent celebration activities of Ramadan in
Turkey have an ideological face. Turning back to previous times through
Ramadan celebrations fosters a feeling of ‘we’ and fills in missing roots,
created and recreated by both AK (Justice and Development) Party. The
personal mind has become a ‘collective mind’ again with the help of lei-
sure activities such as Ramadan celebrations.

 hapter Five: Youth Well-Being and Leisure Time:

C
An International Perspective

Anju Beniwal
Government Meera Girls College, Udaipur, India

The fifth chapter explores leisure time and the well-being of youth. It is
rightly said that while children are the future of the country, youth are its
present. The energy, enthusiasm, dynamism, innovative ideas and cre-
ative thinking youth possess make this population an important asset for
any country’s accelerated development. With regard to youth resources,
India has a distinct edge over developed nations, most of which will be
facing the burden of a fast-ageing population in the coming decades.
India is experiencing a youth bulge. Around the world, young people are
proving that leisure represents a prime opportunity not only for individ-
ual development but also for societal contribution and change. The
amount of leisure time available to young people varies considerably
according to age, gender and culture. How young people spend their
leisure time is also linked to pressing threats to their well-being and to
issues of globalization and interdependence. Given these interconnec-
tions, it is critical leisure be discussed in the context of development of
young people and their participation in the development of community
and society.
8 A. Beniwal et al.

Participation in organized leisure and recreation by young people is

seen as having positive benefits for society since it reduces the amount of
time available for engagement in anti-social behaviour. It is important we
understand the ways in which young people think about leisure—their
beliefs about and attitudes toward leisure, the meaning of leisure to them
and the forces that influence and shape their involvement in leisure activ-
ities. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the empirical evidence
and describe theoretical perspectives that address under what conditions
and in what way leisure activities are essential to youth’s opportunities
and well-being.

Section Two: Virtual Leisure and Pop Culture

 hapter Six: Japanese Idol Culture for Contents Tourism

C
and Regional Revitalization: A Case Study of Regional Idols

Yuki Tajima
Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan

The sixth chapter of our book explores idol culture in Japan. The popu-
larity of idol culture in Japan is well represented by the Japanese media.
Although idols in the past tended to focus their activities mainly on
Tokyo, recent idols have become increasingly rooted in specific geo-
graphic areas. These modern idols differ from their predecessors in that
they personify ‘regional characteristics’ and ‘regional authenticity’ in the
modern context. NHK’s wildly popular morning serial TV drama
Amachan in 2013 illustrated this trend. This drama series received high
audience ratings, and analysis of media reports related to Amachan
revealed that the filming location for this series, Kuji-shi, as well as Iwate
Prefecture, benefited economically from an increased number of tourists
visiting the area. Research on this type of tourism, inspired by media
content such as a TV drama series, is known as ‘contents tourism’; it has
been evolving in Japan since 2010. Idols are indeed contents, and tour-
ism and regional revitalization based on idol culture can be one focus area
for important discussions in the field of contents tourism research.
 Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure 9

Contemporary Japanese idols in today’s Japanese social context and

media situation reveal that, starting from around 2010, many so-called
regional idols have emerged whose activities focus on a specific geograph-
ical area. Most of these regional idols are groups of young females in their
teens or early 20s that focus their activities in the region in which they
were born and grew up in. Their main activities include performing live
at local venues, participating in local festivals and other events and col-
laborating with local government and corporations to support commu-
nity efforts. The new phenomenon can be called “regional idol boom”; it
was born of a combination of the success of the pop group AKB48, the
Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, the re-examination of the
Japanese concept of community and the ideas symbolized in Amachan.
This chapter uses Amachan and explores the relationship between the
media content in Japan and the residents of the community that serve as
its stage—as well as the activities of Ama Club, which is the regional idol
group born in its filming location Kuji-shi, Iwate Prefecture, in the
Tohoku region. At the same time, by understanding the characteristics of
regional idols using specific case studies as examples, this chapter dis-
cusses the potential of Japanese idol culture for contributing to contents
tourism and regional revitalization.

 hapter Seven: ‘Being There and Being Someone Else’:

C
Massively Distributed Virtual Reality Devices and Their
Impact on the Concept of Body and Identity Management

Jonathan Harth
Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany

At least since the emergence of queer studies, one must assume the body’s
potential abilities always exceed what the culture permits. Currently, this
cultural limitation appears to be mainly negotiated in terms of technical
advancements. In 2016, three major companies will have presented their
first generation of virtual reality (VR) devices (Oculus Rift, HTC Vive
and PlayStation VR). It is highly expected that the social impact of such
multibillion investments in leisure technology will be enormous. In this
10 A. Beniwal et al.

seventh chapter, Harth focuses on two questions that should concern the
sociology (of leisure): (1) What makes VR such a unique experience? and
(2) What impact may it have on the user’s perception of body and iden-
tity? The main principle of virtual reality devices is to produce a sensation
of presence in the virtual world. This is achieved by sophisticated tracking
systems and an almost borderless display. As a result the presented images
are perceived to be real. But virtual reality may differ from common real-
ity. And it is exactly this experience which allows certain new perspectives
on the world and the individual within it. Clearly, when one literally sees
the world through the eyes of another, or experiences impossible situa-
tions, one’s perspective—both of self and others—changes. With this in
mind, Harth presents the status quo of the technical standards of VR and
its possibilities and uses. In addition, he intends to contextualize the
technical point of view according to the following aspects: (1) From a
sociological perspective one’s body must always be considered as a (cul-
tural) observed body. Therefore, the body has to be considered no longer
static but ‘poly-contextual’. (2) Computers in general, but especially the
medium of computer games, present the opportunity for users to act as if
they were someone else. The possibilities of VR are putting this to an
even higher degree by creating an immersive full-spectrum ‘space of
presence’.

 hapter Eight: Video Games in the Family Context. How Do

C
Digital Media Influence the Relation Between Children
and Their Parents?

Damian Gałuszka
Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

Video games in the family context are discussed in the eighth chapter.
Video games are one of the most important cultural industries. Their role
in contemporary culture is reflected in the attendant numbers: the popu-
lation of gamers is growing and they devote an increasing amount of time
to their hobby. This, in turn, significantly affects leisure activities from
different social categories. Furthermore, this change has an impact on the
global economy as evidenced by dramatically increased gaming market
 Introduction: The Struggle for Leisure 11

revenues. The growing population of gamers includes children, for whom

video games are not only one of their favorite media but also a sphere of
socialization, which mainly takes place in the family. The purpose of this
chapter is to present conclusions from a study on the role of video games
in the life of a modern family. The study particularly focuses on the issue
of technological and cultural competencies of children and their parents.
The research employed quantitative and qualitative methods—a ques-
tionnaire survey and an interview. Some disturbing phenomena were
observed in the pool of 24 surveyed families, particularly in relation to
the shortcomings in the cultural and technological competencies of par-
ents, insufficient level of parental control, limited parent-child commu-
nication and the lack of support from the school. This chapter is an
attempt to deepen the analysis of the impact that video games have on
the family environment. This is particularly important from the perspec-
tive of the growing popularity of this medium as well as its specificity
(significantly different from older media), which can be unclear to or
disregarded by older generations of parents, educators and teachers.

 hapter Nine: Projecting Gender, Sexuality and the Body

C
Through the Nigerian Music Industry

Aretha Oluwakemi Asakitikpi

Independent Scholar, Johannesburg, Nigeria

Our ninth chapter explores gender, sexuality and the body in the Nigerian
music industry. The Nigerian leisure context has witnessed a significant
transformation, and much has been due to the influence of the mass
media. Unlike the 1980s–90s, when the Nigerian populace depended on
their government to entertain them through the traditional media forms
of television and radio, the coming of independent and private mass
media stations opened the floodgates for diversity and choice. The mass
media terrain did not only change in terms of number but also in terms
of nationally produced programs and artists who introduced innovation
to mass media entertainment. One such innovative change was in the
area of music. Through music videos, Nigerian artists have not only
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 The third illustration facing page 134 is interesting as
representative of a type of coasting steamer introduced about the
year 1855. She shows very well the simplest form of an iron ship
propelled with a screw, and evinces sufficient resemblance to the
dying sailing ship before the steamer had taken on a distinctive
character of her own. In a word, here is the steamship not in her
crudity, as in the case of the Clermont, but certainly in her
elementary form without any of those extra decks and houses which
were still to come, and which to-day give such distinct personality to
the steamship. It will be seen that she is just a flush-decked vessel,
with a central protection amidships for her engines and boilers.
There is no forecastle, no poop, and in the development of type she
stands at the beginning. She was built for the North Sea trade, and
in bad weather must have been a singularly wet boat. She was only
of 677 tons gross register, and the absence of any shelter would,
when steaming to windward in a bad sea, cause her to be swept
from end to end. Similarly, her stern being equally unprotected by
either poop or quarter deck, she would be at the mercy of a bad
following sea. It was not surprising that this elementary type soon
gave way to those modifications that we shall see hereafter. In
design of her body this present model illustrates again Scott
Russell’s system of obtaining a capacious ship combined with the
qualities of slipping through the water with the minimum of
resistance. This will be especially noticeable by regarding the long
straight middle body. She was propelled by oscillating engines, and a
two-bladed screw, having also sails on her three masts.
And so we come to that famous monstrosity and wonder of her
decade the Great Eastern, some idea of whose appearance will be
obtainable from a model of her, illustrated herewith. Here again will
be found a repetition of a curious rig with the half-dozen masts, of
which the second and third carried yards and square-sails, and the
others the usual fore-and-aft sails set on the gaffs here seen.
Although she carried one triangular headsail, yet this was a staysail,
and it is significant that in this notable ship we find the
disappearance of the bowsprit, a change that is so characteristic of
the modern liner. Much more than either the Great Western or the
Great Britain this epoch-making monster stands for something
altogether distinctive in the evolution of the steamship. Frankly, in
spite of her virtues, she was a creature born out of due time.
Historically, she exhibits in no uncertain manner the extraordinary
and almost incredible speed at which the development of the
steamship had progressed in fifty years, during which period
designers, ship-builders, and engineers had to feel their way in the
most cautious manner. No ship was built with such a length as hers
until the White Star Oceanic in 1899; no vessel ever had such a
beam until the coming of the Mauretania and Lusitania, and even
they only exceed the Great Eastern’s extreme width by a mere five
feet. But it is half a century since the latter was built, when all the
experience that we possess now was not yet obtained.

THE “GREAT EASTERN” (1858).

From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
 Originally she had been named the Leviathan, and her beginning
happened as follows: Already the fact had come to be appreciated
that there was a superior advantage in a large steamer compared
with a ship of smaller size when voyages of considerable distances
were contemplated, and that, as already pointed out on a previous
page, length of hull, other things being equal, makes for speed. In
designing the Great Eastern with an extreme length of 692 feet she
spanned over so large a number of wave-lengths that the possibility
of pitching was very decidedly reduced. But even in smooth water
length still means speed, and to take the case of a rowing “eight” and
compare it with a single “sculler,” we find that this law is well
exemplified. Without pursuing so interesting a point beyond our
limitations of subject, we might remark that quite recently an expert
took the trouble to work out data obtained from the performances
respectively of a Leander “eight” and a “sculler” as observed at a
Henley Regatta. Although the displacement of the eight-oared craft
works out at about 240 pounds per rowing man, or including the
coxswain at about 217 pounds, whilst the sculler only displaces 208
lb., yet for all that the speed of the longer boat was found to be
greater in the proportion as 9.75 knots are to 8.12 knots, and this,
bear in mind, while the eight is carrying a ninth man who contributes
nothing to the speed of the craft. We mention this as a simple
example of that important fact of the superiority of length in ship-
making, an importance that is now exhibited so clearly in the
enormous lengths of the latest liners.
Brunel, who had already broken steamship records by his
previous daring essays, suggested to the Eastern Navigation
Company the building of such a ship as would be able to carry an
unheard-of number of passengers, a very large amount of cargo,
and at the same time be capable of steaming all the way to Australia
without having to coal on the voyage. These virtues, together with
her speed of fifteen knots, would, it was thought, enable her to
attract such a large amount of business that she would handsomely
repay her owners. The contract was eventually given to Scott
Russell’s firm, who were entrusted with the building of the ship,
together with the paddle-wheel engines. The screw engines were
made by Messrs. James Watt and Co., so that three of the names
most prominently connected with the history of the steamship were
especially associated with the construction of this leviathan. Brunel
was assisted in the designing by Scott Russell, and the latter’s wave-
line principle was followed. The building of the ship began on the 1st
of May, 1854, and on the last day of January, 1858, she was sent
into the water at Millwall. But this was not done without some
difficulty. The first attempt to launch this enormous mass of 12,000
tons was unsuccessful. Her weight was resting on a couple of
gigantic cradles which were to slide down an incline to the water; but
they only moved a few feet and then stopped. Finally, three months
after the first effort, she was slowly persuaded into the water, side-
ways, by hydraulic machinery. Instead of running her on the route for
which she had been built, where her exceptional abilities might have
been utilised, she was put to compete with the steamships already
running on the Atlantic, for which short voyage she was not specially
suitable, and financially she spelt ruin all round. First, the attempts to
launch her, and the ensuing delay cost £120,000 and the company,
unable to bear the expense, was wound up. Then the new company
which bought her for £160,000 were ill-advised to employ her in the
American trade, for neither as a passenger ship nor as a cargo
carrier could she be made to pay her way. Subsequently she was
used in laying the Atlantic cable, and was handed over to the ship-
breakers in 1888, who brought her career to an end during the next
couple of years.
PADDLE ENGINES OF THE “GREAT EASTERN.”
From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
 SCREW ENGINES OF THE “GREAT EASTERN.”
From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Great Eastern was, in accordance with Brunel’s idea,

propelled by both paddle-wheels and a screw. An illustration is here
given of a model of her paddle-engines, which were of the oscillating
type. It will be borne in mind that the leading advantages of this type
lay in the fact of their comparative lightness in weight, and their
economy as regards space. If the reader will just glance at the
illustration which faces page 138 of the Great Eastern’s longitudinal
section, he will be able to see what little room these engines actually
needed. It will be noticed in her paddle-engines that each of two
cylinders drove a crank, the cylinders being placed vertically but at
an inclined angle. Each paddle-wheel could, if desired, be driven
separately. The condensers were of the jet type, and there were two
air-pumps, which were driven by a single crank in the middle of the
paddle shaft. The paddle-wheels were tremendous, weighing ninety
tons each, and measuring fifty-six feet in diameter. But the Great
Eastern amply proved how unsuitable the paddle-wheel was for
ocean work. Every time the big monster rolled in a bad sea a great
strain was put on the machinery; these vast projections, too, offered
not merely increased windage and accentuated the ship’s general
unwieldiness, but afforded a fine target for the Atlantic waves to
smash against. Once the Great Eastern, during a gale in the year
1861, suffered pretty badly in this respect, when the paddle-wheels
were destroyed. She was afterwards fitted with wheels five feet
smaller in diameter, and of greater strength.
In the next illustration will be seen a model of her screw engines,
whose position in the ship will be found on referring again to the
longitudinal section. These were, it will be noticed, no longer of that
early type which needed gearing, but worked directly, the cylinders
being placed horizontally. The number of cylinders was four, each of
which had two piston-rods, and steam was supplied by half a dozen
double-ended tubular boilers of the rectangular or “box” type. For the
benefit of the non-technical reader we may explain that the object
seen in the foreground of the picture, extending from the centre to
the right-hand side, is what is commonly called the “link motion
gear,” which is employed for reversing the engines when it is
required to send the ship astern. This controls the slide valves which
allow the steam to enter the cylinders. The principle of the link
motion is just this: two eccentrics are placed side by side on the
shaft, but opposite to each other. Each of them is connected by a rod
to one end of the “link,” which is curved in shape. In this illustration it
will be easily recognised at the right-hand side in the front. Now, as
the link is moved up or down, so it controls the eccentric. If it is
lowered, for instance, then one eccentric only is working the valve,
but if the link is raised the other eccentric will control the valve, and
so the latter will work in the opposite direction to which it did before.
Thus, by using one eccentric, steam enters the cylinder at one end
first, while if the other eccentric is employed steam will enter first at
the other. Thus it becomes possible to make the engine turn in
whichever direction is desired by regulating the end of the cylinder
by which the steam shall first enter.
The Great Eastern’s propeller had four blades, and an interesting
arrangement was adopted so that when the ship was proceeding by
means of her paddles, sails, or both, the screw propeller was kept
revolving by means of two auxiliary engines in order that the speed
of the ship through the water might not be diminished by the drag of
the screw. Actual results showed that this ship could do her fifteen
knots with screw and paddles, but her average speed was one knot
less. Under screw alone she could do nine; under paddle power
alone she did seven and a quarter. It will thus be noticed that when
using both paddles and screw she ought to have done better, and
this failing is explained by asserting that the paddle-wheels and the
screw caused a resistance too great for their respective engines.
The construction of this ship calls for more space than we can
here devote thereto, but some of the important features may be
enumerated. She was of great strength longitudinally, and from the
keel to the water-line her hull was double. The longitudinal
bulkheads extended to the topmost deck, and materially added to
her strength, while the inner skin just mentioned not merely gave
added strength, but was an extension of the double-bottom idea, and
so increased her chances in case of collision. Furthermore, the
space between the two skins was available for water ballast, so as to
preserve the trim of the ship as she neared the end of her voyage,
and her coal bunkers were becoming lightened. Transversely, also,
the ship was divided by iron bulkheads into water-tight
compartments in addition to the longitudinal ones. The iron plates
out of which the ship’s skin was made varied from a half to three-
quarters of an inch thick. The Great Eastern was able to give the
world a very convincing proof of the utility of the double bottom, for
she had the bad luck to run on a rock, and although more than a
hundred feet of her outer hull was afterwards found to be damaged,
yet she was able to complete her voyage without the water getting
through into her hull proper.
For steering so large a vessel as the Great Eastern the usual
type of steering-wheel would clearly have entailed the expenditure of
very considerable physical effort; so, for the first time, was
introduced in this ship a steam steering gear, an example that is
nowadays followed by almost all steamers of any size, including
even excursion boats. This arrangement necessitates the use of a
miniature steam engine, the two cylinders working cranks, and the
shaft causing the drum containing the steering chain to revolve. Any
movement of the steering wheel admits steam, and as soon as the
steersman ceases to turn his wheel so quickly does the little engine
cease to work.
We have no desire to try the patience of the reader by presenting
a mass of statistics, but those who delight in comparisons may be
interested to learn how the Great Eastern would appear if put
alongside the Mauretania. The latter displaces 40,000 tons, the
Great Eastern displaced 32,000. The big Cunarder is 790 feet long,
between perpendiculars, while the Great Eastern was 680 feet. The
latter possessed a combined horse-power—paddle and screw
engines—of 11,600, while the Cunarder has 70,000. And so we
could continue. But now that we have seen to what unheard-of limits
the steamship had shown herself capable of reaching by the end of
the sixth decade in the nineteenth century—how she had, step by
step, grown from moderation to exaggeration—let us now examine
her progress during the next twenty years, in which she passed
through her transition period.
 CHAPTER V
THE LINER IN HER TRANSITION STATE

The period which follows after about the year 1862 is notable as
witnessing not only the gradual universal adoption of the screw in
steamships, but the more general appreciation of iron as the material
from which to construct a vessel’s hull. After the prejudices which
already we have seen arising at different stages of the steamship’s
history, it was scarcely to be wondered at that iron should come in
for its full share of virulent criticism and opposition. The obvious
remark made on all sides was that to expect iron to float was to
suppose that man could act exactly contrary to the laws of Nature,
and this notwithstanding that already, besides barges, a few ships
thus built had somehow not only managed to keep afloat, but to
traverse channels and oceans in perfect safety, carrying such heavy
weights as their own machinery, to say nothing of their cargoes and
human freights. But slowly the public prejudice began to wane.
Already the Cunard Company had given way to iron in 1856, and in
1860 the Admiralty were at last convinced that the new method was
just and sound. Within the limited scope at our command we have
not space here to enter into the elaborate discussion of matters
which have to be taken for granted before the building of the
steamship begins. But the plain answer to the natural inquiry, as to
how and why a vessel made out of iron does not immediately sink to
the bottom as soon as ever she is launched, is this: whereas iron in
itself is far heavier than water, yet the iron ship has not the same
specific gravity as the iron from which it is made. Therefore, the ship
of this material will be supported by the water in which it is placed.
In actual displacement, an iron ship is proportionately lighter
than a ship built of wood, and by “displacement” is meant the amount
of water which a vessel displaces through being allowed to float. Of
course, the quantity of water which a ship displaces (or pushes to
one side) depends entirely on the weight of the vessel, and is exactly
equal to the weight of the ship. Thus, suppose we were to fill a dock
with water up to the level of the quay and then lower down into it by
means of gigantic cranes a Mauretania or Lusitania, the water would,
of course, flow over on to the quays. Now the amount of water thus
driven out would be the exact equivalent of the liner’s displacement.
When we say, for instance, that the displacement of the Mauretania
is 40,000 tons, when loaded, we mean that her total weight when
loaded is this number of tons, and her hull when afloat puts on one
side (or “displaces”) just that amount of water.
Now, as compared with wooden ships, the use of iron meant a
saving in displacement of about one-third, taking the wooden and the
iron ships to be of the same dimensions. From this followed the fact
that the iron ship could carry a greater amount of cargo with
consequent greater profit to her owners. And, as I have already
indicated in another chapter, before it was possible to build ships of
great length iron had to be introduced to enable them to endure such
longitudinal strains. Again, a wooden ship must have her skin and
ribs made of a thickness far greater than an iron ship, for the clear
reason that one inch of iron is much stronger than one inch of wood;
in other words, to obtain a given strength the iron will take up less
room in the ship. Thus in an iron steamer there will be more space
available for cargo than in a wooden ship of the same design. We
could go on enumerating the advantages of iron, and quote
instances of iron ships, whose cargo had got on fire, arriving safely
in port and coming into dock where the assistance of the local fire-
brigade had enabled the vessel’s own pumps to get the conflagration
under. It is only as recently as December of 1909 that the Celtic, the
well-known White Star liner, during a voyage between New York and
Liverpool, had the misfortune to get on fire while at sea. By means of
tarpaulins and injections of steam it was possible to control the
burning until the Mersey was reached, when it was intended to flood
her holds. Had she been a wooden ship instead of steel, or even
iron, the Celtic would undoubtedly have ended her days in the
Atlantic.
 The first Atlantic company to build all its steamers of iron was the
Inman Line, which had been founded in 1850, and until 1892 was
one of the foremost competitors for the coveted “blue ribbon” of the
Atlantic. Their first ships had been the City of Glasgow and the City
of Manchester, and these, inasmuch as they were built of iron, and
were propelled by a screw at a time when prejudice had not yet died
down, were entirely different from the prevailing type of steamer; and
this, it should be remembered, at a period six years before the
Cunard had built their iron Persia. This City of Glasgow was built by
a Glasgow firm of shipbuilders, and Mr. Inman had sufficient
confidence in her to purchase her and form a company. Barque-
rigged, with a single funnel, she was of only 1,610 tons and 350
horse-power. Under the command of Captain B. E. Matthews, who
had been on the famous Great Western, she had already crossed
from Glasgow to New York and back in 1850, and on December 11th
of that year began her regular sailings between England and
America. The City of Glasgow—all the ships of this line were named
after cities—was fitted up in a manner which at that time called forth
the greatest admiration. “One room,” wrote a correspondent in the
Glasgow Courier, about that date, “is being fitted up as an
apothecary’s shop, from which the surgeon will dispense his
medicines.” She was provided with five water-tight bulkheads, and
had a propeller whose diameter was 13 feet, with an 18 feet pitch. It
was in connection with the Inman ships that the custom was
inaugurated of carrying steerage passengers on the best Atlantic
liners, although hitherto they had been taken across solely on board
sailing ships.
 THE “CITY OF PARIS” (1866).
From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

THE “RUSSIA” (1867).

From a Painting. By Permission of the Cunard Steamship Co.

The City of Glasgow and the City of Manchester began to

quicken the pace, and at once ensued a contest between the
paddle-steamers and those propelled by screws. In 1857 this
enterprising company instituted the custom of calling at Queenstown
on the way to America, and began running their steamers to New
York in place of Philadelphia. Their success was so great that these
ships were followed by the City of Philadelphia, and, in 1866, by the
City of Paris, of which a beautiful little model is here illustrated. This
was the first of their steamships of that name, and is not to be
confused with another ship built in 1888. It will be seen that the liner
before us was ship-rigged and had a single screw. She measured
346 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 26 feet deep, her tonnage being
2,651. She was driven by horizontal trunk engines, with steam at 30
lb. pressure, consuming 105 tons of coal per day, and giving her a
speed of 13½ knots. Her name was afterwards changed to the
Tonquin, and the superstitious will find interest in the fact that she
subsequently foundered at sea in the year 1885. In the City of Paris
the reader will be able to remark some of the last traces of the old
sailing ship, which were destined presently to be altered
considerably. The long, narrow wooden deckhouse going down
almost the length of the ship, and leaving but little room for the
passengers to promenade; the high, stout bulwarks, which rise
almost to the top of the deckhouse, were among the last links which
connected the steamship with the sailing ship. We must not forget
that about the time when the City of Paris was built, the great clipper
sailing ships were enjoying their prime, and no one will deny that
their influence is very clearly marked in the model before us. As an
interesting lesson in comparisons, showing how the tendency since
the ’sixties has been to raise the decks of the steamships higher and
higher, the reader is invited to compare this illustration with that of
the Majestic, facing page 162, and also that of the Kaiser Wilhelm II.,
facing page 180. In the sailing ship the deckhouse had to be small,
for the reason that the deck space was required for the crew to work
the sails; in the steamer this space was encroached upon, so that
the deckhouse was elongated, and extended from the break of the
anchor deck to the hood at the stern.
The City of Paris’s great rival came with the launching of the
Cunard Company’s steamship Russia, which is here illustrated, and
began running across the Atlantic in 1867. But though the latter’s
quickest passage from New York to Queenstown was eight days
twenty-four minutes, the City of Paris, in 1867, crossed in eight days
four hours, which at the time had broken the record, though the City
of Brussels reduced it still further to under eight days. The Russia
was another Clyde-built boat, and measured 358 feet long, 43 feet
broad, and nearly 28 feet deep, having a gross tonnage of 2,960,
and an indicated horse-power of 2,800. Her average hourly speed
was 13 knots on a coal consumption of 90 tons per day. She was, of
course, built of iron and had a single screw—two characteristics
which practically all the crack Atlantic liners possessed from about
1862 until the end of 1883, if we except the Cunard Servia, which
was launched in 1881, although the Allan liner Buenos Ayrean had
been the first steel ship on the Atlantic.
During this period the liner was steadily adapting herself, her
design, her engines, and her build, to meet the increase of
experience gained at sea, and the increase of knowledge which
shipbuilders and engineers were accumulating was in readiness for
the continuity of advance. In 1881, after a period of much usefulness
and great popularity among passengers, the Russia was sold to the
Red Star Line, who lengthened her, changed her direct-acting
engines to compound engines, and named her the Waesland. But
the Russia was not the first screw-ship possessed by the Cunard
Company. Already I have mentioned that though this line had
introduced the screw-steamer into their fleet, it had not met with the
reception it had expected, and for a time a return had been made to
the paddle-wheel. It was the China, which had begun running in
1862 to New York, that helped to convince those who were
prejudiced against the newer form of propulsion. She was 326 feet
long, and was driven by a type of surface-condensing engine geared
down to the propeller shaft by means of tooth-gearing after the
manner already described, her engines being of the oscillating kind.
But we approach now another of those important crises in the
history of the steamship when her future, for some years to come,
became so definitely moulded. On other pages I have already
alluded to the boilers in use on the big steamers, and to the
important adoption of the compound engines using the expansive
force of steam to do additional work after it has entered one cylinder.
The increase of steam-pressure necessitated the adoption of a
different type of boiler, with a cylindrical shell and flues. Thus the
type which is known as the “Scotch” boiler was introduced about the
year 1870, and is still in use even on the Mauretania. It was not until
this type was adopted that the compound system began to make
progress. At the same time it is only fair to state that the latter
method had been introduced by the Pacific Steam Navigation
Company as far back as 1856, and by the National Line in the early
’sixties. But it is when we come to the pioneer steamship of the
White Star Line that we see the real influence which was at work to
make the final cleavage between the old-fashioned steamship and
the new type of liner. That flag which is now so familiar to all who
travel across the Atlantic used to fly at the masthead of a fleet of
sailing clippers. In 1867 the managing owner of the White Star Line
retired; Mr. T. H. Ismay took over the control and began by
introducing iron for the clippers instead of wood. Two years later and
a fleet of steamships, especially constructed for the American
passenger trade, was ordered to be built. The order was given to
that famous Belfast firm, Messrs. Harland and Wolff, who have built
the White Star steamships ever since. In August of 1870 was
launched the first Oceanic, which made the old-fashioned rub their
eyes in surprise and shake their heads in distrust. For the Oceanic
simply threw convention to the winds and set going an entirely new
order of things in the steamship world. From her have followed most
of the modern steamship improvements up to the coming of the
turbine. Some idea of her appearance may be gathered from the
illustration facing this page, but in the fewest words we will now
endeavour to indicate some of her especial characteristics.
 THE “OCEANIC” (1870).
From a Painting by W. L. Wyllie, R. A. By Permission of Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co.

When she came into the Mersey that memorable day in

February of 1871 her immense length in comparison with her beam
was instantly noticeable. I have already explained the value of length
in ocean travel, but here was a ship with a beam exactly one-tenth of
her 420 feet length. Sir Edward Harland knew what he was about
when designing so novel a craft, and in spite of the general
comments that the Oceanic would prove a bad sea-boat, and unfit to
face the terrors of an Atlantic winter’s gale, she showed that science
in ship-building is of more avail than the blind following of an existing
convention. Nor did she encumber herself with the usual heavy, high
bulwarks that we noticed in the City of Paris, but, instead, she
substituted iron railings, and for a perfectly sound reason. The old
method gave to a ship a false security, for it could not altogether
prevent a sea from coming on board, and when the latter had come
over the ship the bulwarks tended to keep it there, whereas the
Oceanic’s railings allowed the sea to flow off immediately and freely,
as she shook herself and rose to the next wave. The long, narrow
wooden deck-house that we also noticed on the City of Paris was
also discarded, but another deck of iron was added. With her, too,
disappeared most of the objections to the propeller—at any rate, in
the higher-priced accommodation, since the saloon passengers for
the first time were placed not at the stern of the ship (where the
vibration and jarring of the propeller were most felt), but amidships
and forward of the machinery. The saloon extended the entire width
of the ship, whilst the numerous state-rooms were forward and abaft
of the saloon. Furthermore, to an extent that had never been known
on an Atlantic liner, the use of glass side-lights was employed, and
these were made much larger than was customary, so that the
interior of the ship was rendered much lighter, as it was also made
more airy.
The Oceanic also introduced an improved type of water-tight
doors. The old-fashioned candle-lamps which lit the rooms were
replaced by oil-lamps, and instead of the old-fashioned form for
seating, the passengers had the comfort of revolving arm-chairs,
which have since become such features of ocean travel. On deck,
her forward and stern ends were fitted with turtle decks, so that a
wave sweeping over this dome-like shape could swish across it
without doing the damage it could have effected on the first City of
Paris, for instance. The importance of this in a following sea of any
size is obvious, and we must remember that whereas to-day the
stern of a modern liner towers high above the waves, and can
usually defy them, yet in those days the Oceanic and her
contemporaries were still of modest altitude. From the illustration
before us some conception of the bow turtle deck, painted white,
may be gathered, but a much better idea may be seen of a similar
arrangement at the stern of the Britannic (facing page 154). The
addition of that extra deck of iron in the Oceanic shows the
commencement of the many-decked modern liner, to which attention
was drawn in the German liner and her successors, so that in the
Mauretania, as we look down on her decks, she seems to be built up
over every possible inch of space that is permissible.
 But the Oceanic was something more than a comfortable boat
and an ingenious example of the naval architect’s originality; she
was also a “flyer.” With her four-cylinder compound engines she was
able to reel off her 14¼ knots on an average. There were two high-
pressure cylinders and two of low-pressure, the high-pressure
cylinder being above the low-pressure and driving the same crank.
Her indicated horse-power was 3,000, and her tonnage came out at
3,808 gross. She even attained to 14¾ knots, and showed herself to
be the fastest liner afloat, faster even than the Inman liner City of
Brussels. It is a proof of the excellence of her design and the
perfection of her build that on her sixty-second voyage in October,
1889, after she had been transferred to the Pacific service running
between San Francisco and Yokohama, she made the quickest
passage on record across the Pacific.

THE “BRITANNIC” (1874).

As she appeared as a transport during the South African War.
From a Photograph by F. G. O. Stuart, Southampton.
 THE “SERVIA” (1881).
From a Painting. By permission of the Cunard Steamship Co.

The owners of the Oceanic followed up their success by the

Britannic and the Germanic in 1874. A photograph of the former is
here reproduced as she appeared when leaving Southampton during
the Boer War for South Africa, acting as a transport, with British
troops aboard. From this picture it will be noticed that she is purely a
steamship, but when launched she was rigged as a four-masted
barque with yards and sails, but, following the fashion of the
Oceanic, the bowsprit had been discarded. At one time the Britannic
was given a curious arrangement by which she could lower her
propeller so that it was almost level with the keel, and being placed
thus low it was hoped that all tendency to race when the vessel
pitched would be eradicated. To this end a hollow recess was made
in the hull at the stern so that the shaft could be made to work up or
down as desired. But the results were disappointing, so that after
giving the method several months’ trial it was discarded. Both the
Britannic and the Germanic were larger craft than the Oceanic, and
had a tonnage of just over 5,000 tons, and a length of 468 feet, with
45 feet beam. They also were fitted with compound engines, which
gave 5,000 indicated horse-power, and a pressure of 75 lbs. to the
square inch. The Britannic broke the record again by her speed of 16
knots, but the year after her launch the Inman Line, with the City of
Berlin, also developed 16 knots, and wrested the record from the