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Special Issue: Leisure and Happiness Guest Editor: Emeritus Professor Bob Robertson Article Due Date: 1 November 2015* Publication Date (Approximate): Volume 58, Issue 2, 2016
This special issue of the World Leisure Journal will examine the relationships between leisure and happiness. At the individual level, does a leisurely state of mind obviate against unhappiness? Are ‘play’ and ‘happiness’ natural companions – is it possible to be unhappy at play? On the other hand, there is much evidence that recreation can be accompanied by many emotions, including happiness, anger, envy and others. At the societal level, economists decry the limitations of GDP as a surrogate measure of community wellbeing and posit new alternatives such as the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, The Happy Planet Index developed by the New Economics Foundation of the UK, the Genuine Progress Indicator emanating from Seattle and the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index. Perhaps the most publicised of these alternatives is the Bhutanese National Index of Happiness.
Over the past two decades, subjective wellbeing has become the focus of much research. Books such as “Flourish”, by Martin Seligman and “Happiness by Design”, by Paul Dolan, explore the concept of happiness. And in the USA, the National Research Council of the National Academies in 2013 focuses directly on experienced wellbeing. What is the role of leisure in all of this thinking? Increasingly the intellectual territory of “happiness” and what it might mean is under contest between those starting from an economic perspective (perhaps exemplified by the OECD Better Life Index), those with a mental/social health perspective (exemplified by The World Health Organization which, as early as 1946, defined health as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being, and those advocating a spiritual perspective (exemplified in manifestos issued by the followers of every religion). The early work of Csikszentmihalyi on the concept of Flow, his later works on the social psychology of subjective wellbeing; the work of Daniel Kahneman and Martin Seligman; and more recently authors such as Paul Dolan and Robert Stebbins have examined the relationship between leisure, happiness and positive psychology. It seems timely to dedicate an issue of the World Leisure Journal to further explore this topic.
Examples of topics for this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following: • What does recent research tell us about happiness? How does leisure (as a state of mind) contribute to this state of being? • What is the relationship between Maslow’s concept of self-actualisation and happiness? • What is the relationship between Flow and happiness? • Is comedy, a ‘belly laugh’, a short duration expression of happiness? Is satisfaction with recreational activity, merely relief and not an expression of happiness? • What leisure programs have used evidence-based research to evaluate their impact on individuals and the community in terms of happiness? • What are the local, regional, and global trends and developments in relation to happiness? • What validated instruments are available to measure various dimensions of happiness and well-being?
All submissions will be peer-reviewed. *Potential authors are strongly encouraged to contact the guest editor Bob Robertson via email (Bob.robertson@uts.edu.au) to check that their proposed topics fit the special issue. Manuscript Submission Procedure: Submit to: Guest Editor Emeritus Professor Bob Robertson. The complete style and reference guide can be found at: http://www.informaworld.com/rwle or in the back cover of recent issues of the Journal.
In brief: (1) All manuscripts must be in English and must not exceed 5000 words all inclusive. Manuscripts that exceed this limit will not be reviewed until they conform. (2) Manuscripts must be double spaced in 12 pt New Times Roman. (3) Manuscripts must adhere to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 6th edition). (4) Manuscripts should be sent as e-mail attachments in doc or rtf formats.
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