The costs and benefits of hedonism: some consequences of taking casual leisure seriously

Abstract

Casual leisure has been defined as immediately, intrinsically rewarding, relatively short-lived pleasurable activity requiring little or no special training to enjoy it (Stebbins, 1997). Among its types are play (including dabbling), relaxation (e.g., sitting, napping, strolling), passive entertainment (e.g., TV, books, recorded music), active entertainment (e.g., games of chance, party games), sociable conversation, and sensory stimulation (e.g., sex, eating, drinking, sight seeing) and casual, or non-career, volunteering. It is considerably less substantial and offers no career of the sort described elsewhere for its counterpart, serious leisure (Stebbins, 1992). Casual leisure can also be defined residually as all leisure not classifiable as amateur, hobbyist, or career volunteering. This brief review of the types of casual leisure reveals that they share at least one central property: all are hedonic. More precisely, all produce a significant level of pure pleasure, or enjoyment, for those participating in them. In broad, colloquial language, casual leisure could serve as the scientific term for the practice of doing what comes naturally. Yet, paradoxically, this leisure is by no means wholly frivolous, for there are some clear costs and benefits in pursuing it. Moreover, unlike the evanescent hedonic property of casual leisure itself, its costs and benefits are enduring, a property that makes them worthy of extended analysis in their own right. This is the subject of this note