This study comprises a participant observation of a Korean basketball club as a leisure culture community. The study developed a theoretical discussion using the symbolic interactions of Mead. The SPADE basketball club was selected for case study. Research methods took advantage of participant observation and in-depth interviews, among different qualitative research methods. The members of the basketball club were analyzed in terms of how the activities of basketball clubs have a positive social effect and contribute to the formation of self-identity. The members of the basketball club formed a new social relationship because of its activities, which was a very positive outcome. It is clear from the analysis that the members believe that they have a role to play within the club and they are expecting others. Subsequently, it was found that these club activities realized self-identity as a serious leisure culture. They invested much time and money and continued their leisure activities despite the occurrence of injury and suffering, thus realizing self-identity as a serious leisure culture. However, there is the possibility that this may lead to leisure addiction, such as being hindered by the activities of the club through the activity of the club.
The importance of leisure activities is increasing day by day, and social perceptions toward them are also changing. In general, leisure activities have many positive effects, such as stress reduction, improvement in the quality of life, self-realization, and the sense of freedom that comes through escaping daily life (Lee and Kim, 2016). However, it cannot be said that types and effects of leisure activities are the same for all people. Leisure activities can be a simple activity on which to spend some time, and can be an activity to relieve stress. However, it can also lead to manifesting a self-identity that produces self-satisfaction. In other words, the extent to which people participate in various types of leisure activities differs according to individuals and depends on various factors such as one’s life circumstances and leisure activity purposes.Stebbins (2012) categorized leisure activities into serious leisure/project-based leisure and casual leisure according to the degree of participation and the specific situation. Here, serious leisure refers to an activity that enables a person to build his/her career and feel fulfilled through special technology, knowledge, and experience. In other words, it is an activity associated with a sport or art in which a person participates as an amateur level; a leisure activity could lead to a career as the participating individual becomes skilled and accumulates sufficient experience and knowledge (Stebbins, 2012).
Ham et al. (2016) conducted a study of serious leisure and sports clubs. In their paper, satisfaction and happiness through a bicycle MTB club acted as a factor for occupational change. Additionally, Baek (2016) proved that a traditional art club activity as serious leisure was an effective mechanism for the transmission of traditional and intangible culture. However, these studies did not mention the importance of interactions through social symbols in creating self-identity. Accordingly, the present study aims to examine self-identity manifested through serious leisure from the symbolic interaction perspective.
Today, many people take part in sports-for-all club activities as a way to spend their leisure time because they can maintain physical and mental health and form positive relationships through such activities. Furthermore, through positive club activities, they can realize self-identity, which can provide an opportunity to improve the quality of life (Ahn et al., 2015).
The symbolic interaction theory is a methodology to measure a theoretical premise of self-identity, and some of the representative scholars are G. H. Mead, H. Blumer, and E. Goffman. Among them, Mead prepared the groundwork for and codified the symbolic interaction theory; he valued symbols as media for individuals to understand each other and communicate. Babies are known to form personalities through symbolic gestures; as to symbolic interactions, meanings are exchanged through gestures or language in a social situation. Society has been evaluated as an organization in which adaptive interactions occur between individuals, and it has been argued that a society is born by adaptive interactions between individuals; further, their egos are created during socialization (Kim, 2006).
This study is a qualitative in nature, based on in-depth interviews and participant observations of eight members of a basketball club S who were selected as study subjects. G. H. Mead’s symbolic interaction theory was adopted for analyzing the results of the qualitative study. The symbolic interaction theory is a micro theory that focuses on individuals instead of society and an interaction theory, which suggests that individuals influence each other through symbols such as language, gestures, and facial expressions. This theory is a theoretical concept for measuring self-identity as it addresses the fundamental issues of communication; humans create symbols and symbols define humans’ egos (Kim, 2013).
G. H. Mead (1922) focused on how to accept the symbolic mind and the genesis of symbolism. In his essay “A Behavioristic Account of the Significant Symbol” (1922), Hhe said that “The significant symbol is then the gesture, the sign.” That means, “It is addressed to the self when it is addressed to another individual, and is addressed to another, in [the] form [of] all other individuals, when it is addressed to the self” (p.162..............G. H. Mead, 1922).
G. H. Mead (1934) classified ego into two aspects, “I” (subjective ego) and “Me” (objective ego), and explained the continuous interactions between the two. According to Mead, people internalize the conventional standpoint of the society to which they belong and consider it as an object of perception. This action points to the very objective ego (Me), which contrasts with the subjective ego (I) that acts as the subject of perception. “I” cannot be predicted or structured by others. Therefore, Mead thought that self-identity was formed through a reflexive process through interactions between I and Me (G. H. Mead, 1934).
From the perspective of symbolic interaction theory, the situation plays a crucial role in self-identity formation (Lee et al., 2015), because an individual is a being who acts subjectively depending on the situation. Relationships with others are formed amid such subjective behavior; one’s behavior is affected by social relationships. Yet, one’s behavior also affects others’ behavior. Lee et al. (2015) studied members of a baseball club. By utilizing the study results of Park (2015), Burke (1988), and Hewitt (2000), Lee et al. (2015) stated that individuals can play various roles in the same situation because their egos interpret it differently. An empirical verification of baseball club members, situational evaluations, social relationships, and others’ expectations regarded these as factors associated with self-identity. Self-identity formed in this way was manifested by more actively investing time and resources in the baseball club activity.
This idea is applicable to baseball, as interactions between club members occur during games and practice. The manner in which players interpret and accept various situations is important for building self-identity within their club. Therefore, this study addresses questions through an empirical analysis of a basketball club activity. In particular, to explain participants’ behaviors, an analysis of club members’ situations focused on the actual sites of games and practice. Lee et al. (2015) investigated the self-identity of baseball club members, but there were limitations in terms of an in-depth survey and analysis of each member, as the researchers used a quantitative study method through an empirical paradigm.
The purpose of this study was to inquire analytically into how situations associated with basketball activity affect the manifestation of self-identity and how the identity of club members affects their participatory behavior. That is, the basketball club members’ activities and experiences were analyzed through the theoretical premise of a self-identity study, which explains humans’ social behavior from the perspective of the symbolic interaction theory. Study questions to achieve the purpose of this study were as follows:
(1) What kind of social impact does the club activity have as the basketball club members’, “serious leisure,” and how does this social impact form self-identity?
(2) How is self-identity manifested as “serious leisure” from the perspective of participant behavior through qualitative analytical tools of participant observations and in-depth interviews?
Characteristics of researchers and research participants
Denzin and Lincoln (2014) argued that the role of researchers is very important, as they perform the role of mediator and deliver meaning. Because the researcher of this study has been a member of SPADE basketball club for six years, serving as a manager since 2012, it was possible to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of this club. Mutually beneficial relationships were formed between the researcher and research participants. Accordingly, the researcher could perform efficient in-depth interviews as he was aware of the environment and context of the research participants’ lives and organize the club activities for continuous participant observation. However, the researcher did not include himself in the participant group and was faithful to his role as a researcher.
Selecting research participants for a qualitative study is a crucial matter. In this study, eight members from S club were selected using purposive sampling: those selected had been members for more than five years and had high attendance rates in club activities (e.g., regular gatherings and events). Thus, they have been very active. Accordingly, the best study participants to address the study questions were selected as shown in Table 1.
Data collection and research ethics
Regarding data collection tools to address the study questions, the qualitative study methods of participant observation and in-depth interview were used. Participant observation refers to a researcher actively participating in the lives of research participants and studying their daily lives by forming continuous and close relationships with them (Lee et el., 2012). The club experience of the researcher enabled him to perform in-depth participant observations, thereby conforming to the opinion of Geertz (1998), who insisted that an analysis of culture should be considered as an interpretative science that pursues meaning. The in-depth interview, carried out for three days between June 10 and June 12, 2016, was conducted by one individual. As to interview methods, the non-structuralized interview based on the conversational interview method and semi-structuralized interview were used. The interview duration ranged from 50 to 70 minutes per individual. Interview locations included interviewees’ houses or coffee shops near their office buildings, at their convenience. Interviews were based on prepared questions as shown in Table 2, but were conducted in a relaxed atmosphere to encourage open conversations.
This study abided by research ethics throughout the processes of collecting data, including interviews and participatory observation. Before interviewing the participants, the researcher explained the research purpose and the expected effects of the research. Also, interviews were conducted after obtaining participants’ written consent on the research participation agreement form. Even after the interview, the researcher continued to participate in club activities to maintain close relationships with interview participants. Finally, this paper uses the basketball club’s name, SPADE, in this case study as the club members gave the researcher permission to do so.
Data analysis
In this study, a textual analysis was conducted on data collected through participant observations and in-depth interviews. First, in-depth interview data and a participant observation journal were systematically recorded through transcription and documentation. Then, a keyword to connote the meaning of text content was selected and coded. Finally, an effort was made to create scope and meaning to cover the content of coded data.
Social effect of basketball club activity and formation of self-identity
Kim et al. (2013) categorized leisure benefits of the members of a tennis club obtained through club activities as mental benefits, physical benefits, and social benefits; therefore, it is thought that the members of a basketball club can also be the same from their club activities. However, because Mead’s (1934) self-identity, the theoretical background of this study, is manifested through interactions between the subject and object, simple individual effects that appeared among the individuals (participants) were excluded from this study. Accordingly, this chapter investigates what kind of self-identity is formed by the social effects of the basketball club.
The researcher applied triangulation to increase the reliability and validity of the research, employing research design, data collection and analysis, and a member check. Furthermore, the researcher conducted peer debriefings to review the data with a peer researcher and examine whether the data analysis was consistent; it was thus possible to overcome misinterpretations that may have occurred because of the researcher’s subjective interpretation. To grasp the actual meaning of this research through the aforementioned method contributes to presenting the most objective data for analyzing the research.
Forming new social relationships
A club is a gathering of people with similar thoughts and interests, enabling them to easily socialize and bond with each other, and a venue where information is actively exchanged (Kim, 2012). Basketball is a team sport that cannot be played alone. Therefore, basketball club members can easily find opportunities to form new social relationships through regular and occasional gatherings.
Through activities, the members in S club are also forming new relationships within the club, meeting people in various age groups and occupations whom they did not have the chance to encounter in their workplaces or among existing friends. People in this type of community are not simply involved business-wise or interest-wise, but they are forming a common culture, sharing information, and creating new social relationships through encounters with new people in sports venues using their spare time (Kim, 2012). Some of their comments follow:
“I really like Seung-hyeon when we play games. He’s a guard, but he is well aware of our strengths and weaknesses and reflects them in games. He also excels at defense, making other players play more comfortably. He is more concerned about passing the ball than scoring himself. Because he is always keen about whom to pass the ball to, I get to throw more shots when I play with him (Lee Chang-su [male, 52, a member for five years]).
I met a lot of people here. I’ve been working at a cram school as a teacher after graduating from college and haven’t met that many people there. There isn’t anyone related to the people in this club. How will I ever meet people like them elsewhere? I can’t. It is only here where I can encounter people like them, become brothers, and introduce my girlfriend (Choi Jin-ho [male, 34, a member for six years]).
I think an interpersonal relationship is really important. It may not be so important in the basketball club, but to me, it’s very important and the team plays better when the members are emotionally connected with each other (Kim Hyeong-jin [male, 37, a member for seven years]).”
During the basketball game, participant Lee Chang-Su was being positively influenced by another participant, Kim Seung-Hyun. Kim Seung-Hyun, with his excellent basketball skills, raised the morale of other team members, rather than his own. His playing style was encouraging to other players. Participant Choi Jin-Ho came to know the people that he had become acquainted with through the club, and the relationships with these people showed that they are affecting him through a very positive relationship. Participant Kim Hyung-Jin also considered interpersonal relationships as the most important aspect of club activities, and indicated he had positive interpersonal relationships through the club.
The result of the researcher’s participant observation also showed that many people were having positive relationships with each other through club activities. Indeed, they shared many parts of their daily lives with club members, beyond the club activities. They also organized small groups among themselves to enjoy their common hobbies such as traveling and visiting gourmet restaurants. Moreover, when family events such as funerals and weddings took place, they attended these events and gave condolences and support. Therefore, as time went on, the bonds among club members became stronger, and seem to have formed positive interpersonal relationships in their lives.
All study participants had positive opinions about new interpersonal relationships they had formed with others. The newly formed relationships were presented in various forms such as a group tour, get-togethers, and shared hobbies. They were positive about forming relationships because they had more fun in activities if they had formed strong emotional relationships with others in situations in which they could judge people based on personality rather than social status, educational background, or annual income. Additionally, it is thought that because there is no conflict of interest between them, they can more easily form social relationships with each other than with those in their workplaces or schools.
My role and others’ expectation in the club
A club activity is not performed in isolation but by a community that is formed amidst social relationships between strangers. Therefore, there are roles and duties for each person as a club member. The members of SPADE basketball team also had roles and duties. First, the management staff included the chairman, vice-chairman, and secretary. The chairman led the club and had the final say regarding various agendas associated with club operations; the vice-chairman was in charge of planning and operating internal events, and the secretary managed the budget and handled a variety of club issues.
Besides the management staff, all other members thought they had their own roles, depending on their ages and basketball abilities. Older members supported the management staff for the stability of club operations and helped new members adapt to the club activities. A member who was great at playing basketball played the role of leader during games or practices, and other members had a high regard for him. Comments from club members are as follow:
“My role is to participate. I think that is my role. Actually, although I’m the oldest, I always want to participate regardless of my age. Basketball is not a sport that can be played by one person. You can’t play basketball if there isn’t anyone to play with. Participation is what maintains any team. Besides participation, everyone pays the same money and participates in the activity to get rid of stress and heal themselves. Basketball is a group sport so things don’t always happen the way you want. At first, you get to comfort team members but when you repeat the same words, it becomes nitpicking. Then, at the end, it becomes an accusation. I go up to those people and comfort them. I cheer them up by saying, “It’s okay. Play.” I console those who feel bad when playing games. My role is to participate and comfort those members (Lee Chang-su [male, 52, a member for five years]).
Well, I think I’m good at basketball. And, there are times when games don’t work as expected when we meet up for regular gatherings. At those times, I comfort team members, work to make goals and good passes, and I think those are my roles (Pyo Chang-min [male, 38, a member for 10 years]).
I pass the ball to Chang-yong when our team struggles with play because he’s really good at basketball. Then, things get better (Kim Seung-hyeon [male, 40, a member for nine years]).”
As a result of the in-depth interviews, among the eight study participants, seven replied that they had roles in the club according to others’ expectations. Because the study participants had been active in the club for a long time, they helped new members adapt to the club and its gatherings through participation. Further, when things did not work out well during games, it turned out that participants volunteered to be problem solvers.
Manifesting self-identity through “serious leisure” participation
As a result of in-depth interviews with the eight participants of this study, all participated in the basketball club activities based on different contexts and factors. Additionally, they formed new social relationships within the club and had expectations from others within the club. By performing their roles, they manifested a sense of self-identity.
Therefore, it is evident that the club activities provided the opportunities for members to discover their identity through newly formed social relationships and roles within the club. Their self-identity was revealed through “serious leisure” participation as defined by Stebbins, and it was manifested as a psychological element: putting on basketball gear and attempting to continue participating in leisure activity in spite of injuries and physical pain.
Manifesting self-identity through investment
With regards to “serious leisure,” Stebbins (2012) stated that people tend not to spare money, time, and energy to the extent that family and friends have difficulty in understanding them. However, people have a strong desire to improve their skills for serious leisure. Therefore, they have a clear wish to get a better golf club and buy a better telescope with higher performance. Given that people have a tendency to wish to have a dance lesson from a professional dancer who is famous and therefore more expensive to receive a lesson from, everyone has the desire to improve their abilities (Stebbins, 2012).
SPADE basketball club members were revealing their self-identities and meeting their needs by investing a great deal of financial resources into their basketball activities. They were equipped with as much gear as professional players. In addition to basketball shoes and uniforms, they wore various types of gear, such as arm sleeves, knee pads, basketball socks, sports glasses, wrist bands, and hairbands, and they engaged in typical basketball behavior. They wear the gear to protect their bodies and prevent injury, and people who sweat considerably wear them to absorb perspiration. Some said they wear them as fashion accessories to look like professional basketball players. That is, they express their identity as basketball club members through such behavior.
In particular, among the participants, Kwon Yong-ju purchased about 50 pairs of basketball shoes during his eight years in the club, estimated to have cost 8 to 10 million won. Therefore, considering the club fee (240,000 won per year) plus the uniform fee and money spent on various gatherings, it can be assumed that he invested a lot of money in club activities, as he described:
“Even as a child, I was interested and liked shoes, and when I started playing basketball, I fell in love with basketball shoes. So, I have bought about 50 pairs of them to date (Kwon Yong-ju [male, 38, a member for eight years]).”
Investing a great deal of money into purchasing basketball equipment, as indicated earlier, was also apparent with participants Kim Seung-Hyun and Kim Hyung-Jin. Kim Seung-Hyun was investing an average of 10 to 20% of his monthly income into basketball shoes and clothes. While being involved in club activities, Kim Hyung-Jin was collecting basketball shoes to the extent that he had a shoe rack only for basketball shoes.
In a study targeting participants of a baseball club for ordinary workers, Kim (2013) investigated the relationship between serious leisure and the professionalism of recreational players. Kim (2013) found that it was very significant to invest a great deal of money into leisure activities, which would be seen by others as showing determination and the effort required to become an expert. In a study exploring the leisure experiences of fishermen, Oh and kim (2014) reported that amateur fishermen invested as much time, money, and effort into fishing as professional fishermen did. The amateur fishshermen were also found to hone their personal fishing skills through extravagant investments and build their fame by participating in fishing tournaments, thus manifesting an aspect of serious leisure.
Through the aforementined cases, it can be seen that identity is manifested through investing money in basketball shoes and gear. With that said, Lee et al. (2015) results indicated that the sense of self-identity of members of an amateur baseball club was affected by their use of such gear. Study results revealed that time spent and resources invested in the club activity increased the sense of identity.
Serious leisure activity continues regardless of injury and pain
Stebbins (2012) described that in addition to investing financial resources, participants of serious leisure activities demonstrated the characteristic of active participation, which sometimes led them to an uncontrollable situation. Oh and Kim. (2013) claimed that hikers experience pain and negative feelings during their participation in serious leisure activity, but they participate because of the physical changes, effects, and fun that they experience in the midst of pain.
Among the members of the SPADE club, the cases where people continuously participated in leisure activities in spite of physical injuries also existed. The members of SPADE basketball club were also suffering from serious to minor injuries of the knee, ankle, or head. Among the study participants, in May 2016, Pyo Chang-min collapsed after hurting his knee in a collision with another player when he was landing after a jump. As a result, his cruciate ligament was torn. He is currently recovering from an operation, and the experience has caused some changes in his life. As a salesman, he must travel frequently on business trips and work outside of the office; therefore, his knee injury exerts a negative impact on his job.
In January 2014, another participant, Kwon Yong-ju, was seriously injured and received 12 stitches on his head after losing his balance and banging his head on an obstacle upon landing after a jump. His injury at that time did not directly impact his work in a negative manner as he is mostly engaged in administrative work in his office, but he has suffered inconveniences in daily activities, such as not being able to wash his hair. Moreover, since returning to the basketball court after recovering from the injury, he said he experiences emotional trauma every time he lands after a jump.
Kim Seung-hyeon was hurt badly as he played in a basketball game in March 2008. His Achilles tendon was torn when he caught the ball in an offensive attempt. It took him a year to recover and his life was substantially altered, as he was out of a job during the rehabilitation period. He describes his experience as follows:
“I fell down only a minute and 30 seconds after the game started. The offensive player was humbled because I pressured him while defending. I ran with the ball and someone “banged” my elbow with a hammer. I could hear the sound. You can’t walk when your Achilles tendon gets torn; this part was torn [said as he points at his heel]. It really hurt. It curled up. When the Achilles tendon gets torn, this part curls up and gets sunken. I knew the injury would be serious. It was Sunday that day and I had surgery two days after. It took me a year to recover. I didn’t get any rehab treatment (Kim Seung-hyeon [male, 40, a member for nine years]).
I hit my head before. At that time, my first thought was “Oh I cannot play basketball for the time being.” This kind of thinking made me feel really awful, so I came back to the basketball court right after I got better. However, I cannot run and play basketball like the old days because of the memory of the injury (Kwon, Yong-Ju [Male, 38, a member for eight years]).”
He had completely recovered a year after the accident. He could have quit basketball because of the injury, but he returned to the court and began playing games as soon as he recovered. This behavior coincides with Oh et al. (2013) study finding that serious leisure activity is accompanied by physical pain, but people continue with it for the pleasure that arises when overcoming the pain.
As can be seen in the cases of the SPADE basketball club, many basketball club members get hurt during games. As a result of an injury, one’s lifestyle and relationships can be impacted negatively, and there may be difficulties in the workplace or loss of a job. Club members could have quit after their injuries, but they continued to enjoy leisure activity for the pleasure of playing basketball. This finding suggests that leisure activity is helpful for relieving stress (Lee et al., 2016), but situations resulting from serious leisure are generally uncontrollable (Stebbins, 2012).
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between club activities, social effects, and members’ egos in the behavior of basketball club members from the perspective of symbolic interaction theory. Therefore, a qualitative study was conducted with eight members of the SPADE basketball team through in-depth interviews and participant observations. The following conclusions were derived from the results of this study.
First, it was revealed that club members’ participation in club activities generated social effects. The club’s activities can be categorized into regular gatherings for games and occasional gatherings for other purposes, and members form new social relationships through such activities. Within the club, each member had roles according to the expectations of others that they performed, each in his/her own way. The management staff included the chairman, vice-chairman, and secretary, and the rest of the club members manifested their self-identity through understanding and fulfilling the expectations of others. Although, they did not directly talk about other members, they seemed to feel that it was their responsibility to participate faithfully in regular club gatherings, verifying that identity was formed through symbolic interactions between the individual and basketball.
Second, SPADE basketball club members’ sense of self-identity can be explained with Stebbins (2012) “serious leisure” cultural theory. Identity was affected by club participation behavior and the degree of immersion. Members spent a lot of money on basketball uniforms and gear, and wearing the gear was a factor in protecting their bodies and creating their identity as basketball players. Additionally, continuing with club activities despite injuries and pain indicates that community activity is serious leisure. However, such behavior also points to the possibility of a leisure addiction.
Kim (2015) stated that the level of leisure addiction increases with an increase in the level of serious leisure activity. In other words, serious leisure activity and leisure addiction are directly proportional to each other. SPADE basketball club members demonstrated certain behaviors, such as spending 10 million won on basketball goods over eight years in the club and continuing to play basketball despite the negative impact on one’s job following an injury, that could lead to a leisure addiction, which would be harmful to family and friends. Accordingly, more discussion on this issue should take place in the future.
