Lazer e distinção social: um estudo sobre as práticas de lazer em um clube de classe média em Uberlândia

Abstract

The theme of this research is the leisure at a middle-classes club in the city of Uberlândia. The research starts discussing the debate about leisure like a non-daily time linked to individual freedom of choice and consumption. Then we put at issue a literature that advocates leisure as individual preference in face of researches about leisure of the working class, the middle class and the ruling class. The concepts are confronted with empirical analysis of the leisure at the club, based on field observation, documents and the club\'s history, showing that the club provides non-daily time leisure with children, families and through sporting activities, but also it conducts recreational activities to consumption in general and in particular during the parties. The club is a fortified enclave addressed to middle-class; is a privatized space where the leisure activities are controlled. The club has a propaganda that reinforces an image of great leisure business and social events as well as results in club sport and health promoter. The conclusion is that the leisure activities of the middle class express a class division. The practices are oriented by the ideology of non-socioeconomic equalization.