Introduction,
Part1: Leisure, work and well-being: Through a historical lens,
1. Leisure that never existed before: A historical perspective,
2. Was Plato a friend or a foe of leisure?, 3 Aristotle: Philosopher of leisure and happiness,
4. Leisure in Ancient Rome: Otium and Panem et Circenses, 5. Seneca: Philosopher of tranquillity and sadness,
6. St. Augustine: Leisure and happiness in the Earthly City and the City of God,
7. Thomas Aquinas: Vita activa or vita contemplativa?,
8. From the Vale of tears to the Renaissance,
9. Work and leisure in Thomas More’s Utopia, 10. Montaigne’s Essays and Pascal’s Pensees: Of diversion and happiness,
11. Enlightenment’s vision of work, leisure and the arts,
12. Adam Smith: Capitalism with a human face?,
13. The 19th century…Was there ever a Golden Age?,
14. Alexis de Tocqueville: Why are Americans restless amidst prosperity?,
15. Karl Marx: Between the ‘realm of freedom’ and ‘material necessity’,
16. Emile Durkheim: Of labour, leisure, and anomie,
17. Max Weber: Of work ethic, leisure, and disenchantment,
18. Thorstein Veblen: From the ethics of work to conspicuous consumption,
19. The 20th century: farewell to the "belle epoque",
20. Johan Huizinga: Sub specie ludi,
21. Pitirim Sorokin: At the crossroad of Ideational and Sensate cultures,
22. Joseph Pieper: Apology for vita contemplativa, 23. Hannah Arendt: Of ‘human condition’,
24. From the Middletown and Middletown in Transition to The Lonely Crowd, 25. Leisure research yesterday and today: Quo Vadis?, Part II: Leisure, work and well-being: Changing the diopter,
26. What happened to the society of leisure? Two scenarios,
27. Work-leisure relationship: The ‘long arm of work’?,
28. Leisure and social prestige: Keeping up with the Joneses?,
29. The pros and cons of the ‘democratization of culture’,
30. Of happiness, leisure and riches, Conclusion