Personal life

Personal life is the course or state of an individual's life, especially when viewed as the sum of personal choices contributing to one's personal identity.^[1]

Apart from hunter-gatherers, most pre-modern peoples' time was limited by the need to meet necessities such as food and shelter through subsistence farming; leisure time was scarce.^[2] People identified with their social role in their community and engaged in activities based on necessity rather than on personal choice.^{[citation needed]} Privacy in such communities was rare.^{[citation needed]}

The modern conception of "personal life" is an offshoot of modern Western society. Modern people tend to distinguish their work activities from their personal life and may seek work–life balance.^[3] It is a person's choices and preferences outside of work that define personal life, including one's choice of hobbies, cultural interests, manner of dress, mate, friends, and so on. In particular, what activities one engages in during leisure-time defines a person's personal life.^{[citation needed]} Religious authorities, moralists, managers and personal-development gurus have seized on the concept of an individual life as a fulcrum for potential control and manipulation.^[4]^[5]^[6]

People in Western countries, such as the United States and Canada, tend to value privacy. Privacy includes both information privacy and decisional privacy; people expect to be left alone with respect to intimate details of their life and they expect to be free from undue control by others.^[7]

^ Baker, Maureen (2010). Choices and Constraints in Family Life (2nd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-19-543159-9. In this book, I argue that intimate relationships are certainly influenced by our personal preferences but to a large extent our 'choices' are shaped by family circumstances and events in the wider society ...
^ Scott, Simeon (2011). "Contradictions of capitalism in health and fitness leisure". In Cameron, Samuel (ed.). Handbook on the Economics of Leisure. Elgar Original Reference Series. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 978-0857930569. ... we turn to the writings of anthropologists and archaeologists, the majority of whom believe that our earliest ancestors were well fed and healthy. They obtained their subsistence by hunting and gathering, they had a relatively egalitarian ethic and more leisure time available to them than people in any subsequent mode of production.
^ Kelly, Matthew (2011). Off Balance: Getting Beyond the Work-Life Balance Myth to Personal and Professional Satisfaction. New York: Penguin. p. 60. ISBN 978-1101544280. For hundreds of years, almost from the beginning of corporate history, a divide between the personal life and professional life has been asserted. This is a false divide. ... It is impossible to separate the personal from the professional: the two are intricately linked.
^ Clarke, Charles (2013). Woodhead, Linda; Winter, Norman (eds.). Religion and Personal Life: Debating Ethics and Faith with Leading Thinkers and Public Figures Including: Alastair Campbell, Steve Chalke, Delia Smith, Polly Toynbee, Giles Fraser, John Harris, Mary Ann Sieghart. Westminster faith debates. Darton, Longman and Todd. ISBN 978-0232530186.
^ Sorley, W. R. (1911). The Moral Life: And Moral Worth. Cambridge manuals of science and literature (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (published 2012). p. 26. ISBN 978-1107605879. The virtues of personal life are to be regarded both from the side of control and from the side of culture. On the one hand the varied impulses and desires have to be regulated so as not to interfere with the realisation of the moral ideal.
^ Davis, Roy Eugene (1995). Life Surrendered in God: The Philosophy and Practices of Kriya Yoga. Yoga Series. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers (published 1997). p. 176. ISBN 978-8120814967. ... the guru may say, 'Go home and get your personal life straightened out. ...'
^ Cite error: The named reference privacy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] Baker, Maureen (2010). Choices and Constraints in Family Life (2nd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-19-543159-9. In this book, I argue that intimate relationships are certainly influenced by our personal preferences but to a large extent our 'choices' are shaped by family circumstances and events in the wider society ...

[2] Scott, Simeon (2011). "Contradictions of capitalism in health and fitness leisure". In Cameron, Samuel (ed.). Handbook on the Economics of Leisure. Elgar Original Reference Series. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 978-0857930569. ... we turn to the writings of anthropologists and archaeologists, the majority of whom believe that our earliest ancestors were well fed and healthy. They obtained their subsistence by hunting and gathering, they had a relatively egalitarian ethic and more leisure time available to them than people in any subsequent mode of production.

[3] Kelly, Matthew (2011). Off Balance: Getting Beyond the Work-Life Balance Myth to Personal and Professional Satisfaction. New York: Penguin. p. 60. ISBN 978-1101544280. For hundreds of years, almost from the beginning of corporate history, a divide between the personal life and professional life has been asserted. This is a false divide. ... It is impossible to separate the personal from the professional: the two are intricately linked.

[4] Clarke, Charles (2013). Woodhead, Linda; Winter, Norman (eds.). Religion and Personal Life: Debating Ethics and Faith with Leading Thinkers and Public Figures Including: Alastair Campbell, Steve Chalke, Delia Smith, Polly Toynbee, Giles Fraser, John Harris, Mary Ann Sieghart. Westminster faith debates. Darton, Longman and Todd. ISBN 978-0232530186.

[5] Sorley, W. R. (1911). The Moral Life: And Moral Worth. Cambridge manuals of science and literature (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (published 2012). p. 26. ISBN 978-1107605879. The virtues of personal life are to be regarded both from the side of control and from the side of culture. On the one hand the varied impulses and desires have to be regulated so as not to interfere with the realisation of the moral ideal.

[6] Davis, Roy Eugene (1995). Life Surrendered in God: The Philosophy and Practices of Kriya Yoga. Yoga Series. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers (published 1997). p. 176. ISBN 978-8120814967. ... the guru may say, 'Go home and get your personal life straightened out. ...'

[privacy-7] Cite error: The named reference privacy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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