Algorithmic Automation of Leisure
from a Sustainable Development
Perspective
Mariusz Baranowski and Dorota Mroczkowska
1 Introduction
This chapter adopts two fundamental objectives that have been conceptualized in
the perspective of developed countries in terms of welfare sociology (Baranowski
2017, 2019a, 2020). The first aim is to analyze the role and importance of leisure in
the context of sustainable development. In other words, the aim of this part of the
paper is to synthesize the knowledge resulting from leisure practice with regard to
how it intersects with the concept of sustainable development in welfare sociology.
As leisure is increasingly regarded as an essential value in terms of quality of life,
there is a growing demand to combine this phenomenon with the broadly understood phenomenon of social welfare. The second objective concerns the impact of
new technologies (algorithmic automation) on the daily practices of leisure time in
developed capitalist societies. The main research question is namely, how algorithms
based on new technologies change the subjective perception of leisure (especially
quality of leisure) and the daily practices implemented within its framework (e.g.
work and non-work regimes) (Scribano 2019). However, because we do not have
data from empirical research by means of which we can falsify or confirm the nature
and direction of the impact of these technologies, we have only focused on signaling
their potential impact.
We assume that the fundamental debate on leisure in the context of sustainable
development is shaped today in specific, contradictory and ambivalent conditions.
These conditions are connected to the pursuit of cohesion, the discovery of genuine
or authentic freedom, contemplation or self-development, accompanied by opposing
M. Baranowski · D. Mroczkowska (B)
Department of Sociology, Adam Mickiewicz University, 89C, 60-568 Pozna´ n, Szamarzewskiego,
Poland
e-mail: drmrocz@amu.edu.pl
M. Baranowski
e-mail: mariusz.baranowski@amu.edu.pl
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Lubowiecki-Vikuk et al. (eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Development and Leisure
Services, World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59820-4_2
21
from a Sustainable Development
Perspective
Mariusz Baranowski and Dorota Mroczkowska
1 Introduction
This chapter adopts two fundamental objectives that have been conceptualized in
the perspective of developed countries in terms of welfare sociology (Baranowski
2017, 2019a, 2020). The first aim is to analyze the role and importance of leisure in
the context of sustainable development. In other words, the aim of this part of the
paper is to synthesize the knowledge resulting from leisure practice with regard to
how it intersects with the concept of sustainable development in welfare sociology.
As leisure is increasingly regarded as an essential value in terms of quality of life,
there is a growing demand to combine this phenomenon with the broadly understood phenomenon of social welfare. The second objective concerns the impact of
new technologies (algorithmic automation) on the daily practices of leisure time in
developed capitalist societies. The main research question is namely, how algorithms
based on new technologies change the subjective perception of leisure (especially
quality of leisure) and the daily practices implemented within its framework (e.g.
work and non-work regimes) (Scribano 2019). However, because we do not have
data from empirical research by means of which we can falsify or confirm the nature
and direction of the impact of these technologies, we have only focused on signaling
their potential impact.
We assume that the fundamental debate on leisure in the context of sustainable
development is shaped today in specific, contradictory and ambivalent conditions.
These conditions are connected to the pursuit of cohesion, the discovery of genuine
or authentic freedom, contemplation or self-development, accompanied by opposing
M. Baranowski · D. Mroczkowska (B)
Department of Sociology, Adam Mickiewicz University, 89C, 60-568 Pozna´ n, Szamarzewskiego,
Poland
e-mail: drmrocz@amu.edu.pl
M. Baranowski
e-mail: mariusz.baranowski@amu.edu.pl
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Lubowiecki-Vikuk et al. (eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Development and Leisure
Services, World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59820-4_2
21