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Amateurs, Professionals, and Serious Leisure
06 Apr 1992-
TL;DR: For fifteen years, Robert Stebbins has conducted extensive research on amateurs and professionals in theatre, music, archaeology, astronomy, baseball, football, magic and stand-up comedy as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For fifteen years, Robert Stebbins has conducted extensive research on amateurs and professionals in theatre, music, archaeology, astronomy, baseball, football, magic and stand-up comedy His publications give the theme of serious leisure in-depth scholarly attention This text brings together the findings of this research project to provide a theoretical framework that reveals the commonalities across these eight fields Throughout this project Stebbins has built on the work of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss and their notion of "grounded theory" First, Stebbins extensively observed the routine activities of amateurs and professionals in each field studied Then, as he became more familiar with the life-styles of the participants, he conducted lengthy, unstructured, face-to-face interviews with, in most cases, 30 amateur or professional respondents Each field demanded special methods of observation, analysis, interviewing, probing and reporting As much as possible, however, Stebbins asked similar questions of all respondents in all fields so as to permit generalizations across these diverse fields The result was a "substantive grounded theory" of each field studied Stebbins has developed a "formal grounded theory" of amateurs and professionals based on the research accumulated in all eight substantive fields By transcending a variety of contexts, he argues, one can gain a more enduring appreciation of the elements that affect peoples' experiences in work and leisure pursuits A review of the findings across this wide range of activities, including his findings and ideas on hobbyists and career volunteers, enabled Stebbins to derive better definitions of the main concepts of the project, such as "amateur", "the public", and "serious leisure" -- as well as "professional", where he distinguishes between client-centred and public-centred professionals who, while sharing numerous ideal-typical attributes, vary as to the power and control they have over their work in a democratic society He presents inductive conclusions about careers and the costs and rewards in the eight amateur-professional fields considered He examines the external world of amateurs and professionals in the light of such issues as family ties, relations among amateurs and professionals and among amateurs and their employers, public images, critics and journalists, community contributions, and the question of marginality for amateurs who are caught between the work world of the professional and the casual leisure world of the majority of the population He concludes with an exploration of the future role of serious leisure in relation to predictions of greater unemployment and increased leisure time and longevity
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TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework linking leisure to subjective well-being (SWB) is presented. But, the framework is limited to the US, and it is not applicable to other regions of the world.
Abstract: Leisure is a key life domain and a core ingredient for overall well-being. Yet, within positive psychology, its definition and the psychological pathways by which it evokes happiness are elusive (Diener and Biswas-Diener 2008). In this paper, we seek to address these issues by delineating leisure and presenting a conceptual framework linking leisure to subjective well-being (SWB). Leisure is defined as a multidimensional construct, encom- passing both structural and subjective aspects. Respectively, it is the amount of activity/time spent outside of obligated work time and/or perceived engagement in leisure as subjectively defined. To explain the effects of leisure on SWB, a quantitative summary of theories from 363 research articles linking leisure and SWB was conducted. Based on our findings, we propose five core psychological mechanisms that leisure potentially triggers to promote leisure SWB: detachment-recovery, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation (DRAMMA). These psychological mechanisms promote leisure SWB which leads to enhanced global SWB through a bottom-up theory of SWB. We discuss how future research can use this conceptual model for understanding the interplay between leisure and SWB.
535 citations
Cites background from "Amateurs, Professionals, and Seriou..."
...The numerous references to flow (44 references) (Csikszentmihalyi 1990) and serious leisure (14 references) (Stebbins 1992, 1997) from our literature support the notion that mastery is an essential mediating link to SWB. Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) concept of flow taps into the mastery experience, as…...
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...This model of leisure posits that serious involvement of effort, skill, and commitment to a leisure activity leads to greater life satisfaction (Stebbins 1992, 1997)....
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...Meaning is a vital mechanism in leisure to SWB due to the support and references to serious leisure (14 references) (Stebbins 1992), flow (44 references) (Csikszentmihalyi...
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...Serious leisure (Stebbins 1992) Serious leisure is a leisure pursuit of an amateur,...
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...Meaning is a vital mechanism in leisure to SWB due to the support and references to serious leisure (14 references) (Stebbins 1992), flow (44 references) (Csikszentmihalyi 1990), activity theory (27 references) (Havighurst 1961), the selection, optimization, and compensation theory (SOC) (7…...
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01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The authors examined the characteristics, attitudes and perceptions of adult community band musicians (N = 275) in nine randomly selected ensembles in order to glean insights into how music education might facilitate more meaningful connections between school and community, and greater lifespan engagement with participatory music making.
Abstract: As viewed through the theoretical frameworks of Lave and Wenger’s situated learning, leisure theory, and quality-of-life theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics, attitudes and perceptions of adult community band musicians (N = 275) in nine randomly selected ensembles in order to glean insights into how music education might facilitate (a) more meaningful connections between school and community, and (b) greater lifespan engagement with participatory music making. The “typical” survey respondent was over 45, physically healthy, white, nonsmoker, nondrinker, churchgoer, well-educated, upper-middle class, married with children, active in the community, studied piano and sung in a choir at some point, learned their instrument in school, enjoyed classical music, and chose to play in the band for both musical and social reasons. Significant differences between those who learned to play their instrument in school and those who did not were minimal. Implications for music educators concerned about the “car-ryover” of school music to music making later in life are discussed. The contrast between the world of school music and actual musical conditions in the world outside is startling. (Gordon, Zanzig, & Tilton, 1933, p. 17)
470 citations
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Abstract: Since 1982, the year the serious leisure perspective was first set out, the concept of casual leisure has served mostly as a foil for sharpening understanding of that framework. Yet casual leisure is a distinctive activity in itself and an important part of the contemporary leisure scene, suggesting that it, too, should be conceptually elaborated just as serious leisure was earlier. Thus the principal goal of this article is to present a theoretical statement defining casual leisure as a separate field demarcated by its own special properties. To this end, a definition of casual leisure is presented after which its six types are described. This is followed by a section on hedonism and other rewards and one on deviant leisure, both casual and serious.
439 citations