Maintaining the Trail

Collective Action in a Serious-Leisure Community

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2365402
AutoresMichael S Rosenbaum (0000-0002-1883-4412, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA), Michael Rosenbaum (0000-0003-2835-9202, University of Denver, autor correspondente)
Ano2013
Volume42
Fascículo6
Páginas639-667
Data de publicação2013-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Contemporary Ethnography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0891-2416 • E-ISSN: 1552-5414
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0891241613483560
OpenAlexW2169493838
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas11
Referências citadas63

This article uses data from a four-year ethnographic study of off-road driving enthusiasts to investigate the potential of leisure consumption to organize collective action. I analyze a serious-leisure community's efforts to secure a place in the future for the culture of its constituency and suggest that this collective action reflects the increasing significance of consumption as a foundation of personal and collective identity in contemporary society. These Jeep people perceived themselves as facing negative stereotypes that constituted an existential threat to their personal and collective identities, which demanded access to natural areas for their maintenance and articulation. Drawing on theoretical insights from literatures on community, consumption, and the identity politics of new social movements, I analyze Jeepers' efforts to overcome negative stereotypes through identity work and impression management in the public realm. My findings offer empirical support to theoretical claims that new forms of community can foster benefits to individuals and groups that are similar-and perhaps functionally equivalent-to those generated by traditional forms of community; these off-road driving enthusiasts challenge pessimistic assumptions about the capacity of leisure consumption to inspire the commitment and public-sphere activity characteristic of "genuine" communities

Action (physics · Aesthetics · Collective action · Collective identity · Consumption (sociology · Ethnography · Identity (music · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Public sphere · Realm · Social group · Social identity theory · Social science · Sociology · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Wine Industry and Tourism