Leisure culture in Lithuania: an ethnological investigation

ENThe investigation of leisure culture has recently received ever more attention from economists, psychologists, philosophers, and other scientists. But among ethnologists, leisure has not been specially investigated until nowadays. The article attempts to look at the conception of leisure developed by Lithuanian ethnologists and, based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Vilnius in 2012 and 2014, to reveal how city residents generally perceive the leisure spent by family members. The conducted investigation showed that leisure is contextual.The attitude towards leisure can differ among family members and, over the course of time, even in the case of a single person. Therefore an ethnological investigation of family leisure not only reveals everyday life but is also an opportunity to serve the interests of the consumer society. At the same time it is a way of looking at family and society problems, demonstrating how not leisure, not related to obligations, correlates with free time spent within the family.