The Deviant Leisure Perspective: A Theoretical Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief theoretical introduction to the emerging deviant leisure perspective within criminology. The authors have outlined elsewhere some of the founding principles of the deviant leisure perspective and the forms of leisure and harm with which it is concerned (see Smith and Raymen, Theoretical Criminology, 2016). This chapter intends to go into more theoretical depth to explore the intellectual underpinnings of deviant leisure, specifically its critique of the relationship between liberalism, consumer capitalism and the dominant conceptions of leisure. The chapter is organised into three main sections. In the first section, the authors critically challenge dominant understandings and characteristics of leisure and whether these still hold true in late-capitalism. The chapter goes on to outline the central premises of ultra-realist criminological theory, its understanding of subjectivity and how this can help deviant leisure scholars in understanding why individuals might be willing to harm others, themselves or the environment in the pursuit of consumer capitalism’s ‘good life’. Finally, the chapter closes with some reflections on leisure futures. Specifically, it explores the potential of a de-commodified ‘pro-social’ leisure, what this might look like and the political-economic and cultural barriers to its achievement.