Abstract
This analysis presents the leisure-time preferences of youngsters in Romania (Transylvanian region) based on time series survey data collected at a regional youth festival. The main aim was to map out the leisure-time preferences and consumption patterns of Romanian youth and analyze if these differ based on socio-demographic factors (social status, gender, cohort, and so on.).
In this chapter, the main aspects of the theoretical framework are presented at first, namely those factors which influence the leisure time preferences and consumption of youngsters. As a consequence of the system change in 1989 in the Central and Eastern European countries, young people gradually became a more autonomous and active segment of society and now portray a distinctive youth culture (Machaček, Sociologia 29(2):249–253, 1991; Youth in the process of transition and modernisation in the Slovak Republic, 1998a; Czech Sociological Review 6(1):103–115, 1998b; Wallace, Korunk 6:5–12, 1998; Wallace and Kowatcheva, Youth in society. The construction and deconstruction of youth in East and West Europe, 1998). Even though after the system change in Romania the market economy and the expansion of the education system developed at a relatively slow pace, previous research points to an acceleration in the processes—albeit dependent on social status—of individualization, of increasing levels of autonomy, of changes in life events, and of changes in the consumption patterns of young people in the region (see Ercsei et al., Consumul de loisir, gradul de autonomie şi planurile de viitor ale tinerilor la Festivalul Peninsula din Târgu Mureş. [Leisure time consumption, autonomy and future plans of young people from the Peninsula festival—Târgu Mureş]. In T. Kiss, G. Barna, & G. Kozák (Eds.), Tinerii maghiari din România. Dimensiuni comparative [Hungarian youngsters from Romania. Comparative dimensions], 2011; Gábor and Veres, Transformarea socială şi tineretul în Europa de Est. Situaţia tinerilor maghiari din România [Social transition and youth from Eastern Europe. The situation of the Hungarian youngsters in Romania]. In T. Kiss, G. Barna, & G. Kozák (Eds.), Tinerii maghiari din România. Dimensiuni comparative [Hungarian youngsters from Romania. Comparative dimensions], 2011).
The study continues with a presentation of the analysis of the leisure-time activities and consumer habits of young people based on data gathered between 2006 and 2012 at the Peninsula Festival in Târgu Mureş. Using contingency tables and exploratory factor analysis, the different forms of lifestyle and leisure-time consumption of youngsters are highlighted, and—contrary to earlier analyses, which suggest a more homogeneous picture—eight groups of consumption configurations are identified, leading to more diverse leisure-time palette in the region. The presentation is concluded by suggesting that in Romania there is a segment of youngsters who, based on their leisure-time preferences and consumption, display characteristics of a distinct youth culture with middle-class consumption patterns.
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Notes
- 1.
see Beck 1983.
- 2.
Agenţia Naţională pentru Sprijinirea Iniţiativelor Tinerilor (ANSIT)—Social status and expectations of youth in Romania. Barometer of Public Opinion—2008. For the research report go to: http://nou2.ise.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Diagnoza-2008_final.pdf.
- 3.
Institutul pentru Studierea Problemelor Minorităţilor Naţionale (ISPMN)—Hungarian Youth in Transylvania—2008. For the research report go to: http://www.ispmn.gov.ro/uploads/Kiss-Barna-Solyom.pdf.
- 4.
Peninsula Festival is a festival organized in Târgu Mureş/Marosvásárhely with the first event taking place in 2003. (The event temporarily changes location: in 2013 it was held near Cluj Napoca/Kolozsvár, in the valley of Gârbău/Gorbó). The festival has a varied program containing musical, cultural and sporting events, with about 60,000 participants primarily from the region, and from other parts of the country as well. For details see: http://felsziget.ro/en/.
- 5.
Participants were chosen according to probability sampling in a sampling system according to which the site of the Festival site was divided into four or five territorial areas, in which interviews were conducted between certain time intervals (1: 10–14, 2: 14–18, 3: 18–22). Firstly, by applying a contact form / contact questionnaire, there were collected socio-demographic data and secondly by applying a broader questionnaire there were discussed the themes mentioned above (leisure time consumption, the consumer and the communication status of young people, respectively the life events, future plans, the value system and political views of youth). Contact forms have been applied on a larger sample (N = 1060–3237) compared to the thematic sample in order to ensure the possibility of correcting the data of the thematic sample (N = 645–945) by weighting (taking into account the distributions of the contact sample regarding gender, age and type of settlement). The surveys were coordinated by the Peninsula Research Team (the authors of the present study) from the Foundation for Social Research Max Weber—Cluj Napoca/Kolozsvár.
- 6.
This fact may be confirmed by the material and communicative status of the young people as well: a material situation well above the average compared to young people in Romania, and endowment with IT products is practically accessible to all participants, a situation that is above that of the average youth in Romania.
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Ercsei, K., Kiss, Z., Plugor, R., Szabó, J., Veres, V. (2017). Patterns of Leisure-Time Activities in the Context of a Youth Festival in Romania. In: Benkő, Z., Modi, I., Tarkó, K. (eds) Leisure, Health and Well-Being. Leisure Studies in a Global Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33257-4_17
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