Serious leisure, social identity and sport tourism

B. Christine Green, Ian Jones

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

'Serious leisure is a concept used to describe leisure activities that are 'sufficiently substantial and interesting in nature for the participant to find a career there acquiring and expressing a combination of its special skills, knowledge, and experience [1]. Serious leisure participants are often highly identified with the subculture of their chosen activity. Consequently, sport tourism can provide serious leisure participants with (1) a way to construct and/or confirm one's leisure identity, (2) a time and place to interact with others sharing the ethos of the activity, (3) a time and place to parade and celebrate a valued social identity, (4) a way to further one's leisure 'career, and (5) a way to signal one's career stage. By understanding the nexus of serious leisure, social identity and subculture, we are better able to describe and explain participation in what we term 'serious sport tourism.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)164-181
Number of pages18
JournalSport in Society
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2005
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Serious leisure, social identity and sport tourism'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this