Leisure as an agent of social change : special issue introduction

Having mounted a case for leisure as a human right in 2015 (McGrath, Young and Adams 2017), the organizers of the 13th Biennial (2017) Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies (ANZALS) Conference in Hobart, Tasmania asked delegates to take this notion a step further by reviewing leisure as a social change agent at individual, community and societal levels. A key focus was the capacity of leisure to improve the human condition (especially in the context of a rapidly changing world), and the role leisure plays in challenging social norms, biases, discrimination and stereotypes, thus enabling social justice outcomes. Of interest was how leisure enhances the quality of life and empowers groups, such as migrants, people living with a disability, older people, women and girls, those of lower socioeconomic status, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) and indigenous peoples. The transition of leisure activities through an individual’s different stages of life organically emerged as a sub-theme of the conference and this special issue, especially around active participation and volunteerism.