Description:
Serious Leisure offers a comprehensive view and analysis of the current state of the sociology of leisure
Brief description:
Robert A. Stebbins is professor emeritus in the department of sociology at the University of Calgary. He has written over 230 articles and chapters and has written or edited fifty books, including Serious Leisure, Between Work and Leisure, Work and Leisure in the Middle East, and The Idea of Leisure.
Review Quotes:
"A concise introduction to the concept of serious leisure, supported by the most current research and sprinkled with citations to guide the reader to more detailed accounts. . . . [This] book then, taken as a primer on serious leisure, will stimulate interest in this woefully neglected area."
--Derek Christopher Martin, Contemporary Sociology
"A renowned author in the field of leisure, having written more than 25 books on the subject, Stebbins (sociology, Univ. of Calgary) promises to offer a comprehensive view and analysis of scholarship in the sociology of sport. The author defines serious leisure as the systematic pursuit of an activity--as amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer--that is extremely interesting for the participant. Serious leisure requires special skills, knowledge, and experience. Stebbins describes casual leisure as immediately and intrinsically rewarding but short-lived, needing little or no special training. Finally, project-based leisure is a short-term task that is complicated. Stebbins takes up such issues as class, gender, youth, and disabilities and such concepts as obligation, values, and selfishness. He draws most of his evidence from Canadian examples and his own exhaustive research."
--Choice