Serious Leisure

Abstract

The term ‘serious leisure’ made its debut in social science circles in 1982. The initial statement (Stebbins, 1982) and several more recent ones bearing on the nature of serious leisure, are now reasonably well expressed in what seems to have become the standard abbreviated definition of this type of activity. Serious leisure is systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity that participants find so substantial and interesting that, in the typical case, they launch themselves on a career centred on acquiring and expressing its special skills, knowledge and experience (Stebbins, 1992: 3). Contrary to a widespread tendency to see the idea of career as applying only to occupations, the term, in this definition, is used more broadly, following Goffman’s (1961: 127–8) conceptualization of ‘moral career’. Broadly considered, careers are available in all substantial, complicated roles, including especially those in work, leisure, deviance, politics, religion and interpersonal relationships (see also Lindesmith et al., 1999: 315–16; Hewitt, 1991: 246). These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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