The social world of a Society of Stranders festival: Shag dancing as serious leisure

The involvement of individuals in particular leisure activities has been the focus of an increasing number of studies. This tendency can be attributed to the increased interest of researchers in showing how people become involved in leisure activities, why they cease or continue to be involved, and the development of a continuous, long-term commitment to an activity (Mannell & Kleiber, 1997). Stebbins (1992) is convinced this goal may be reached through serious rather than casual or unserious leisure and notes that, although they are small in number, there are some participants who pursue the leisure activity with unusual intensity and fervor. This presents the question of why some people "get hooked" on an activity.; In order to further the understanding of serious involvement and commitment to a leisure activity, this dissertation investigates the evolution of a regional dance to determine what factors have contributed to the duration of the dance and the long-term commitment of the participants. The social world of Society of Stranders festivals and the subculture of shaggers are used to explore the six interrelated qualities of serious leisure as defined by Stebbins (1992, 2001, 2002). Social dancing, especially a regional couples dance, has not previously been examined as a form of serious leisure.; Data were collected through in-depth interviews at shag festivals. Purposive sampling was used to obtain a sample uniquely suited to the intent of this dissertation. Interviews were conducted with a range of festival attendees who were known to be different from one another in terms of length and type of involvement with the dance. Seventeen couples and 33 individuals were interviewed for a total of 50 interviews involving 67 people.; A method of ethnographic analysis outlined by Spradley (1979) was followed in which the data were analyzed using domain, taxonomic, and componential analyses. Within the festival social world, two categories of shaggers, social and serious, were discovered. These categories were further divided into five sub-categories: social (occasional, regular social shaggers{rcub} and serious (wannabes, regular serious shaggers, insiders). A typology was constructed to analyze the different kinds of shaggers in terms of their experiential preference, dance identity, interpersonal relationships, amount of dance participation, and their orientation to the dance, to competition, and to skill development.; Results of the study confirm the six interrelated qualities of serious leisure developed by Stebbins (1992). Social interaction and belongingness are cited as the most important reasons for long-term involvement and commitment. Findings indicate that a common interest in the music and the dance leads to camaraderie and long-term friendships which shaggers describe as a lifestyle. Reasons cited for the continued popularity of the shag are the versatility and challenge of the dance and the quality of music. The findings also suggest that the festival social world is a combination of serious and casual leisure with fun as the connecting element. Participants choose their level of involvement and commitment based on their individual lifestyle needs.