Social Participation and Family Welfare: The Money and Time Costs of Leisure in Australia

The concept of social exclusion has become a central organizing concept in social policy research. Indeed "social exclusion" has displaced many of the terms formerly in use, such as "inequality", "deprivation" and "poverty". Social exclusion is a multidimensional concept embracing economic, social and political deprivations, that alerts us to the significance of social identity, culture, agency and, ultimately, power relations. In contrast to some earlier research traditions, the perspective of social exclusion draws our attention to how people can be "shut out of society" by their inability to participate in customary leisure activities. The ability to participate in leisure is the product of both access to leisure goods and services, and a sufficient quantity of leisure time. An analysis of Australian Household Expenditure Survey data shows that the consumption of leisure goods and services is powerfully determined by income. Consequently, low income can lead to exclusion from leisure participation. However, analysis of Time Use Survey data also shows that access to time for leisure participation is most powerfully determined by hours of employment, family responsibilities and gender. After controlling for working hours, household income has no significant effect on available leisure time. A leisure-time poverty line, based on half-median leisure time, is used to show which groups are most excluded from leisure by time constraints. The paper concludes by considering a range of policies to alleviate social exclusion from leisure participation.