Nightlife (activity)

Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It may include pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, cinemas, shows, and some restaurants. These venues often require a cover charge for admission. Nightlife entertainment is often more adult-oriented than daytime entertainment. People who prefer to be active during the night-time are called night owls.

Nightlife has been a vibrant area of research for sociologists. Nightlife establishments including pubs, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs function as third places, according to Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place.

Some sociologists have argued that vibrant city nightlife scenes contribute to the development of culture as well as political movements. David Grazian cites as examples the development of beat poetry, musical styles including bebop, urban blues and early rock, and the importance of nightlife for the development of the gay rights movement in the United States kicked off by the riots at the Stonewall Inn nightclub.

There is debate about the degree to which nightlife contributes positively to social capital and the public goods of society. David Grazian points out that nightlife can "replicate the same structures of race, ethnic, and class inequality and exclusion found in the larger society."

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