Acknowledging that the challenge facing social science is how to inject some order into the common-sense notion of leisure lifestyles, this book, written by a major player in the field of leisure, considers how to turn the study of both serious and casual leisure into a useful concept for guiding research.

Developing the common-sense notion that leisure lifestyles have time and space dimensions, Stebbins delves into distinctive leisure lifestyles which occur around particular free-time activities such as the serious ones where participants must routinely train, practice, rehearse, gather information, and those that are casual such as bingo, lunches with colleagues, and outings of small walking groups. Demonstrating the nuances of each, and analysing how serious activities are structured along the lines of the social world in which every lifestyle is embedded, this book revolutionises the idea of leisure lifestyle, turning it into a workable concept for guiding research, while also enriching our understanding of what it means. Striving to meet the test of a critical challenge in the field, this book is a refreshing new addition to the work on leisure, from a highly-respected and established scholar.

The Serious Leisure Perspective (SLP) is a theoretic framework developed by Robert A.  Stebbins in 1973, that brings together three main forms of leisure known as serious leisure, casual leisure, and project-based leisure. The SLP has evolved considerably since 1973, and this textbook provides a synthesis of the many concepts and propositions, as well as the data supporting them. In this overview, Stebbins organizes the entire framework along conceptual lines, with careful attention to level of empirical support and validation of each concept, presenting an up-to-date version of the SLP that allows interested students and researchers of social psychology, sociology, and leisure studies, to pinpoint exact elements of the theory, the empirical base and its application. 

This pivot provides a conceptual statement of an approach to understanding the interrelationships of work, leisure, and “chore” activities in daily life, and how they are managed in practice. 

Drawing on the sociology of everyday life, Stebbins puts forward the notion of Pondering Everyday Life (PEA), a thinking process/activity in which we routinely understand, coordinate, organize, remember, and compare our involvements in work, leisure, and non-work obligations. This perspective demonstrates how the interrelation between these three domains helps bring meaning and continuity to everyday life. As a micro- and meso-level conception that takes into account social, cultural and historic context, Stebbins contemplates how and what PEA can tell us about an individual’s view of their own life.

Pondering Everyday Life will be of interest to students and scholars across leisure studies, social psychology, and the sociology of leisure and work.

This work looks into how, why, and when people pursue things in life that they desire, those that make their existence attractive and worth living. Robert A. Stebbins calls this "Positive Sociology," the study of what people do to organize their lives such that they become substantially rewarding, satisfying, and fulfilling. Western society has many challenges: crime, drug addiction, urban pollution, daily stress, domestic violence, and overpopulation. Significant levels of success in avoiding these problems brings a noticeable measure of tranquility, but it does not necessarily generate a positive life.

Personal Decisions in the Public Square draws upon, in large part, the sociology of leisure, a "happy science." Among the basic concepts in the sociology of leisure are activity and human agency. The centrality of positive activity is one of its hallmarks and separates it from other social science specialties. Stebbins's positive sociology centers on conceptual roots found in the "serious leisure" perspective. This theoretical framework synthesizes three main forms of leisure (serious, casual, and project-based) while showing their distinctive features, similarities, and interrelationships. Positive sociology also considers two other domains of life: work and non-work obligations.

This new approach focuses on the pursuit of "that which makes life worth living." Stebbins explores goals that are important to all people, such as negotiating the right work/family or obligation/leisure balance and the tricky relationship between money and happiness. Research scientists or the general public may find the ideas presented in this volume help them better understand and negotiate situations, by showing how to approach them in a positive way rather than as "problems" that need to be solved.

Occupational devotion, as defined by Robert A. Stebbins, is a strong and positive attachment to a form of self-enhancing work, where the sense of achievement is high and the core activity, or set of tasks, is endowed with such intense appeal that the line between work and leisure is virtually erased. This volume examines conditions that attract people to their work in this profound way, and the many exceptional values and intrinsic rewards they realize there.

The author sets out by discussing people who are devoted to their occupations, and describes the kinds of occupations in which such people are found, the nature of their commitment to their work, and the kind of values they strive to realize through work. Stebbins frames occupational devotion in four broad social contexts--history, religion, work, and leisure--then considers the further subdivisions of gender, social class, and social character.

The heart of the book uses research findings on leisure to develop a powerful critique of the "workaholic" model. Stebbins shows instead that deeply felt worker enthusiasm is devoid of addictive or coerced behavior. Stebbins also explores the role of money. How important is it? What happens when money becomes a major if not dominant value, as has happened, for example, in the realm of professional sports? Finally, he examines the social implications of the compatibility of work and serious leisure, using exploratory research to identify their shared motivational factors.

Between Work and Leisure aims to debunk the prevailing myth that work and leisure are wholly separate and, often as not, mutually antagonistic spheres of life. Stebbins shows that a close relationship between leisure and work offers the opportunity for people to find joy in work just as they do in leisure. This volume will be of interest to those interested in work and occupations, as well as those interested in the quality of their own lives.