Search

Veal's concerns about lifestyle (p. 9), as served up in the I Synthesis i , are considered to some extent in Stebbins ([9]), a book devoted exclusively to leisure lifestyles. The richest discussion of casual leisure as well as its relationship to common sense is available in Stebbins ([6]), another important book that Veal ignored. Turning next to the short section on classification (pp. 2-3), Veal's concern here about the CL-SL continuum is tackled in all its complexity in Stebbins ([5]), which unfortunately, is not in Veal's reference list. Keywords: Serious leisure; casual leisure; social world; macro-level analysis EN Serious leisure casual leisure social world macro-level analysis 590 593 4 07/27/21 20210801 NES 210801 Veal ([11]) has just published a critique of the serious leisure perspective (SLP), and this article is a rejoinder to his observations. [Extracted from the article]

The serious leisure perspective offers a panoramic view of the many different kinds of free-time activities found in modern society, describes their origin and appeal, and explains the different rewards gained by pursuing them. The Perspective also shows how these activities fit in the local community and wider society. Broadly classified as serious, casual, and project-based leisure, they offer different solutions to three key problems in therapeutic recreation (TR). They are (1) to know which kind of leisure to recommend or suggest to people with a particular disability; (2) to come to grips with the still dominant public view that real personal worth is measured according to the work people do; (3) to help offset among the large majority of practitioners the lack of a theory of leisure. The problems are considered first and then the serious leisure perspective is applied as a solution to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaving an academic post by retiring (from teaching, research, academic administration) is to leave in later life a main, wider-community social involvement. Retirement from this occupational heaven can lead to an incongruous lifestyle, however, to a lonely, unsettling existence, even with compatible spouse, family, and close friends near at hand. For they cannot usually offer the values of academia. They fail to generate the feeling of being part of the larger community, of being somebody within it. There are three ways to recover this loss, each realized in leisure time, namely, serious leisure, casual leisure, and project-based leisure. Informal community social involvement refers to informal involvements of a fortnightly or monthly nature. Irregular community social involvement consists of local formal involvements that are pursued from time to time. Regular community social involvement refers to membership and steady member participation in local and extra-local formal organizations. For academic retirees in search of community involvement, becoming immersed in the social world of a serious leisure activity is possibly the most effective way to establish beyond the circle of one's intimates just who one is. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive psychology and the study of leisure of leisure have more in common than meets the eye. Their shared ground is especially evident in the concept of leisure activity: a type of pursuit, wherein participants in it mentally or physically (often both) think or do something, motivated by the hope of achieving a desired end. Leisure activities are positive activities, identified psychologically by particular sets of behaviors and sociologically by their place in a leisure social world and often in a social institution (e.g. sport, art, entertainment). Leisure is defined and the concept of leisure experience examined. Next, the serious leisure perspective is introduced. The main part of the article explores the emotions of leisure experience in interpersonal relationships, contemplation/spirituality, volunteering, quality of life/well-being, happiness, and play and creativity. The serious pursuits offer the richest range of positive psychological states, but casual and project-based leisure are not to be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Activities such as gardening are fast becoming acknowledged as a much desired health management strategy in later life. However, few studies have examined gardening as aseriousleisure pursuit. The aim of this study was to apply the concept of serious leisure to the context of leisure gardening by older adults in Australia. Casual, participant and devotee gardeners were compared with respect to the relative importance of the characteristics of serious leisure, using self-administered questionnaires (n = 514). Findings indicated that characteristics of serious leisure varied significantly across the three groups. The most powerful discriminating characteristics were Identity, Unique Ethos and Significant Effort; with Identity particularly important for devotee gardeners. The deeper the level of engagement, the more gardening was perceived as contributing to overall life satisfaction. Findings indicated that gardening could be a serious leisure pursuit that assists in the development of a positive leisure identity and contributes to a more mobile and active life for older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Education gained through leisure activities plays a central role in our search for self-fulfillment, be the leisure activity a project or a serious pursuit. After discussing the serious leisure perspective, education, both formal and informal, is explored for its special contribution to fostering fulfillment, defined as the realization of personal tastes, talents, and potential. Several key concepts marking the road to fulfillment are discussed: life course, process, leisure education, adult education, self-directed learning, and experience. The ways that acquired education as background knowledge is applied constitute a crucial step in finding self-fulfillment in an activity. The role of Internet and digital technology is also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerted singing is a common amateur activity in many parts of the world. Such singing is at minimum two-part vocal harmony with or without accompaniment, which may, however, be carried out in groups of 150 voices or larger. It ranges from informal gatherings of 2 to 4 people (male, female and both) who come together to sing their favourite songs or hymns with or without accompaniment to large community formations such as the barbershop and symphony choruses. Despite the widespread popular interest in this kind of activity, research on it as leisure outside that on barbershop singing is nonexistent. The concept of institutional chorus is developed and set in the serious leisure perspective. Interview data from a qualitative study of a Chinese university faculty chorus are then analysed and presented according to six concepts: career, social world, constraints and facilitators, costs, benefits, and rewards. Concerted singing in an institutional chorus, this exploratory study suggests, meets the six qualities of a serious pursuit. This kind of singing was found to be a deeply rewarding activity for its participants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The usual criteria in the studies of work and leisure fail to define the remunerated regional and national (high-level) democratic politician. What does this worker, who in census terminology is "not elsewhere classified," mean to the conscientious voter? High-level politicians are not amateurs, for they are paid enough to earn a substantial part, if not all, of a livelihood. Second, these politicians are not liberal professionals. They are paid; they are professional only as all other paid workers are. Weber holds that high-level politicians are guided by one of two ethics: the ethic of responsibility and that of conviction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical exercise is an activity whose health-related benefits have been promoted by health professionals and social institutions. However, given that the levels of practice are not ideal, the subjective variables - that give meaning, provide continuity and may increase exercise adherence - need to be studied in depth. In this sense, fitness training is analyzed as a form of serious leisure, a body-centered hobby - a way to practice and relate to the activity that leads its practitioners to adhere more to it, orienting them towards a career in acquiring and expressing skills, knowledge and experience. In total, 1,134 people (588 men, 546 women) doing fitness training, aged between 18 and 70 years old (M = 34.7, SD = 13.06), answered a questionnaire about time dedicated to exercise as serious leisure and its derived and complementary benefits. Student's t Coefficient and ANOVA were used to show the significance of the differences among the scores obtained for the rewards related to exercise and the other variables of the study. The results highlight that exercise as serious leisure is an activity whose weekly time investment makes it to acquire a central role when rewarded by sense of accomplishment, contact with others, improved health and being outdoors with the family. To conclude, this study enhances that characterizing fitness training as a body-centered hobby - which shares the principles of serious leisure - implies a new approach to the analysis of exercise while also suggesting new ways of promoting it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world’s population is ageing. Engagement in physical activities that assist people to age in good health while enjoying quality of life are critical considerations for practitioners and policy-makers. In 1913, the sport of Rugby Union was introduced to Taiwan. As a form of recreational activity, the game became popular among- Taiwanese males. In recent years, older players have sought to facilitate their continued involvement in an activity that is normally played as a full-contact sport. Why these individuals continue to play, how they perceive their experience and how the sport has evolved to maintain their interest and active involvement are especially interesting to explore. Study participants were specifically chosen from an established Taiwanese rugby union club. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted in 2013 with 15 amateur rugby players aged from 54 to 83 years. Results indicated that the main motivations for participants to continue playing was that it gave them ‘a sense of nostalgia and pride’, ‘lifelong friendship and belonging’, ‘pure joy and passion’, with considerations of being ‘mentally and physically active’, keeping up an involvement in ‘a real man’s sport’ and maintaining a sense of one’s ‘self-identity’ with ‘responsibility and commitment’ towards this chosen sport. Findings suggest that leisure providers need to be aware of the opportunities for reducing constraints and providing adaptations that allow older adults to immerse themselves in physically active pursuits integral to enjoying a fruitful ageing journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the serious leisure to devotee work (SL-DW) transformation trajectory in the case of yoga. An in-depth semistructured interview was conducted with 15 serious yoga practitioners to examine career change and the relationships between leisure and work. The findings of the research outline the passage from stepping into casual yoga leisure, moving from casual to serious yoga leisure, aspiring to succeed on the professional level, becoming an occupational devotee and finally a possible return to the serious-leisure state. A grounded theoretic model emerges explaining the blurred relationships between leisure and work, and the intertwined, dynamic and interactive nature serving as both the antecedent to and consequence of each other. This study theoretically contributes to deepening serious leisure career, the leisure-work relationships and the Serious Leisure Perspective. Meanwhile, it has practical implications for understanding and policy making for other emerging, leisure-oriented kinds of work in the new era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the choice and pursuit of adolescents' most important and interesting leisure activity. It is underpinned by the concept of serious leisure, recent perceptions of seriousness as a continuum and calls for incorporating contextual elements of serious activity pursuit. A questionnaire survey was administered to 832 students from 10 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Students were asked to nominate leisure activity that they regarded as most important and interesting as well as to complete an adapted version of the Serious Leisure Inventory and Measure (SLIM). Results showed the popularity of sports and performance and graphic arts activities and of psychological reasons for activity choice. There were variations in activity choice between boys and girls and across schools as well as across levels of seriousness in activity pursuit. The study adds to the scant knowledge of adolescents' serious leisure and enhances understanding of motives for and meanings of serious engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]