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.

Robert A. Stebbins, FRSC, is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary, Canada.   

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Serious Leisure Perspective. - Chapter 2. The Essential SLP: Foundational Concepts.- Part 1. Micro Level. - Chapter 3. Leisure, Attitudes and Identity. - Chapter 4. Individual Participation in Leisure. - Part 2. Meso Level. - Chapter 5. Small-Scale Social Organizations.- Chapter 6. Middle-Range Processes.- Part 3. Macro Level. - Chapter 7. Social Institutional.- Chapter 8. Culture and Social Change.- Part 4. Theory and Practice. - Chapter 9. The SLP in Practice.- Chapter 10. Conclusion: The Conceptual Composition of the SLP.