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22). It is assumed in all this that the work and its core activity to which people become devoted carries with it a respectable personal and social identity within their 30 The Interrelationship of Leisure and Play reference groups, since it would be difficult, if not impossible, to be devoted to work that those groups regarded with scorn. Still, positive identification with the job is not a defining condition of occupational devotion, since such identification can develop for other reasons, including high salary, prestigious employer, and advanced educational qualifications.

Rather, it is best seen as an adaptive strategy, whereby the individual can more or less fulfill the role obligations while maintaining self-respect. Here we sometimes observe augmentative play. , inappropriate and/or unprofessional dress) reflected role distance. Teachers wanting to distance themselves for this reason in this way search their closets and dressers for apparel they believe will accomplish this goal. In this moment there is a flash of insight that the items being selected will do the job.

It is obvious that some adult casual leisure activities can be understood as play. It is less obvious, however, that when they play, adults often dabble in or play around at an activity pursued as serious leisure by others. Examples of such light-heartedness are legion; they include the casual or occasional canoeist, tennis player, piano player, sport fisher, and stamp collector (the last being more accurately viewed as a type of “accumulator,” Olmsted, 1991). Some of the differences in casual and serious leisure involvement in tourism and volunteering have also been examined (Stebbins, 1996a, 1996b).