Longing for Leisure: How Near-Past Nostalgia Shapes Leisure Practices

Abstract

Nostalgia has been conceptualized as an emotion, yet limited studies have explored how it shapes practices. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic individuals' lives have been turned upside down, resulting in nostalgia for the time just prior to the pandemic. In this article, we look more specifically at how this near-past nostalgia has shaped contemporary leisure practices. Based on empirical material from 13 in-depth interviews, our analysis shows that near-past nostalgia expresses itself through three different modes; creative nostalgia, innovative nostalgia, and passive nostalgia, which in turn shapes contemporary leisure practices through individuals adopting three corresponding strategies; adaptation, innovation, and procrastination. By unfolding how different modes of near-past nostalgia shapes contemporary leisure practices in different ways, we discern important implications for marketing in terms of marketing strategy, targeting, and marketing communications of leisure services and products.