“We can learn more about a society by observing how its people spend their leisure time than by observing them at work”
From which shall we learn more about a society, their leisure time or work time? According to the assertion above, one should observe how people in a society spend their leisure time rather than work time. From my point of view, partly I accept the correctness of the conclusion; however, the author extends the assertion to extreme by denying that the activities in works also can reflect the features in a society. Clearly, both the leisure time and the work time can help us to understand one society.
On one hand, the reason for my view is that activities of people spent in leisure time can indicate the culture of this nation. People normally spend their leisure time with families, friends or the other related to do traditional stuff in the society, which reflects the culture and wealth of entire country. For example, from sports people do for fun, we learn Americans like baseball, but Chinese like pingpong ball; from the days people take off for holiday, we learn fourth in July is the national day for Americans, but first in October for Chinese, etc. Moreover, the activities in the leisure time can tell how developed country people are in. For instance, while British are playing golf for fun; the poor children are practicing football with the dream of Mr. Soccer of the World.
One the other hand, we cannot deny work method is an important indicator of the development of the country. Mail delivery persons will drive a van to distribute or collect letters and packages door by door in a drive in some community of US; while the counterparts in African have to hold them by hands to the address. Especially, the work attitudes of people are quite different from each other, since they can be interpreted completely differently when workers are under the same situation. How can you imagine that a hot debate between a subordinate and his/her boss in the States would happen in Japan where the managers are treated with more respect than fathers?
In conclusion, it is no doubt that the activities that people do in leisure time can reflect many aspects of the society; however, no one can deny that working styles are also the mirror of that country. In the final analysis, for anyone who are attempting to learn a society, he/she must observe both how people spend their leisure time and what people do for their jobs.
