Abstract
Chapter 6 emerges from one of the key findings from Chap. 5, namely that leisure time physical activity has been far more structured and less social than in the past. We explore in greater depth two popular ways of achieving fitness: social dancing and gym-based exercise. Their appeal, positive and negative features and contradictions are described in terms of cultural and economic pressures bearing down on the three generations in the last quarter century: the pressure to ‘perform’ and excel even in leisure, and being efficient about getting and maintaining ‘fitness’ in a time-pressured society. These perspectives have been largely ignored by previous researchers and commentators.
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Banwell, C., Broom, D., Davies, A., Dixon, J. (2012). Fitness Marginalises Fun and Friendship. In: Weight of Modernity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8957-1_6
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