Human action can be loosely differentiated into work (creation) and leisure (recreation) activities. 'Work' can be defined as economically purposeful activity requiring substantial human coordination of task and action, while 'leisure' and leisure activities are motivated by non-economic and non-exchange purposes such as relaxation and pleasure. Although the two categories have never been mutually exclusive, both work and leisure have traditionally taken identifiable forms, such as 'the job', 'holidays' and so on.

Today human work and leisure are being radically redefined. The key words are empowerment, self-reliance, autonomy and self-service, replacing the more traditional notions of division of labour, specialization, manual work and the physically remote workplace of the mass production, mass assembly and mass consumption era. Most human activities - work, labour, jobs, leisure, recreation and the overall ways and quality of life - have changed and are going to change even more by 2000.

Milan Zeleny