What is Avocation

If subsistence were not a factor, in a time of less available work, a simple shift for human lifestyles would be from vocation to avocation, such as serious hobby and skilled leisure activities. As expressed in the West, avocations can be all-consuming: expensive, time-intensive, resource-intensive, skilled, long-term, sophisticated, pro-social, and self-affirming. In many cases, serious leisure activities may result in skillsets that are near-professional in status and scope. Some people practice as amateurs (and novices) in various professional fields, as citizen practitioners and citizen scientists. This work offers a conceptual exploration of the affordances and constraints of expansive serious hobbies and skilled leisure activities to stand-in for full work participation.