Not in the mood for socialising? Duties are becoming increasingly burdensome for young people

If an activity is compulsory, it quickly loses its leisure character. Young people in particular want to enjoy their leisure time and so duties are increasingly being ignored. In 1995, one in three young people (35%) no longer regarded participation in a club as leisure time. Four years earlier, this figure was only 16 per cent. And for the vast majority of young people, involvement in a political party or trade union has nothing to do with leisure time (1991: 41% - 1995: 56%). This is the result of a recent trend analysis by the B-A-T Leisure Research Institute, in which a representative sample of 383 young people aged between 14 and 24 were asked about their social behaviour in their leisure time. The surveys were based on two representative surveys of 2,600 people aged 14 and over in 1991 and 1995.

Citizens' initiatives have also lost their leisure and sometimes happening character among young people in recent years. Involvement in a citizens' initiative has a compulsory character (1991: 30% - 1995: 56%). This obviously does not fit in with leisure time, which promises freedom and voluntariness. "For many young people, leisure time has become a time of arbitrariness and non-binding contacts," says Prof Dr Horst W. Opaschowski, Director of the B-A-T Institute. "The willingness to make social commitments is declining." Even people's own families are feeling the effects of this: visits to the sick and relatives are becoming more of a nuisance (1991: 25% - 1995: 42%). And almost half of young people now dislike fulfilling family obligations (46%). Four years previously, social disaffection was only half as great (23%).

The age of individualisation is taking its toll. More and more young people tend to be self-sufficient in their free time. However, young people are no better or worse than the rest of society. The social dimension of leisure behaviour is also becoming increasingly less important for the rest of the population. This is particularly true for singles and city dwellers. Social obligations tend to be perceived as disruptive factors that impair the enjoyment of leisure time. With the growing commercialisation of leisure time, the lack of solidarity in everyday life is also increasing.

Neighbourly help threatens to become almost a foreign word in leisure activities. For more than a third of all young people in Germany, neighbourly help has no place in their leisure time (1991: 26% - 1995: 37%). Voluntary work in a social organisation (e.g. the Red Cross) is also increasingly perceived by young people as work of a compulsory nature (1991: 30% - 1995: 48%).

"In the future, there is a danger that the idea of social duty in leisure time will die if we do not succeed in turning the social burden back into a social pleasure. Society and politics have a role to play here. Social commitment must become more attractive in leisure time," says BAT Institute Director Opaschowski, Professor of Educational Science at the University of Hamburg. Young people should not have the feeling that they are being incorporated or made to fulfil obligations by adults. As life becomes more leisure-orientated, social commitment must also become more of an experience - otherwise more and more young people will drop out.

Duty and fun don't have to be opposites. Young people want to do something that makes sense and is fun. Above all, they want more freedom to develop their own ideas and designs, as well as more community and success experiences. Young people are quite willing to do something voluntarily in their free time, but are reluctant to be put under time pressure by others. Moreover, as leisure behaviour is becoming increasingly fast-paced and spontaneous in the age of mobile phones, faxes and remote control, leisure activities must also be increasingly spontaneous, i.e. temporary commitments. Anyone who expects or demands lifetime commitments, on the other hand, must expect young people in particular to drop out. Participation and membership must be redefined. This is a challenge for all institutions, organisations and associations that want to have a future.

The new BAT documentation "Jugend und Freizeit. Eine Bestandsaufnahme Mitte der 90er Jahre auf Basis aktueller Analysen" has been published in the Scripten series and contains numerous charts and tables as well as a detailed introduction by Professor Dr Horst W. Opaschowski. The volume is available immediately from the BAT Leisure Research Institute, Alsterufer 4, 20354 Hamburg, fax: 040 - 41513231, for a nominal charge of DM 28.