Ελληνική Κοινωνική Έρευνα -Greek Social Research

Stratos Georgoulas Assistant Professor University of the Aegean - Greece S.georgoulas@Soc.aegean.gr Introduction The present paper constitutes a report of an ongoing effort to relate two social phenomena, which, at first glance, might appear unrelated. These are the activities of 'free time' or else leisure in modern society and the structures of social control. My working hypothesis attempts to demonstrate that structures of supervision and mechanisms of control in Greece determine the management of leisure. Formal social control functions only in a complementary way and only in relation to the control of a parallel market, existing outside the sphere of the dominant market. Leisure management has the capacity of defining itself, in accordance with the rules of market economy. The exchange of products of leisure can take place according to the law of value and the exploitation can be concealed through the "free contract" between the consumer and the provider of serv...