Classification of hobbies by groups or types (part 2)
To carry out an adequate classification, some criteria should be used to guide it. These criteria should be based on the elements that constitute a hobby. Said elements must be mainly objective and well recognizable, such as the place, the material, physical or mental demands or characteristics of the participation.
Thus, within these elements and after analyzing the different hobbies and the classifications are given, it could be concluded that
The main features that characterize a hobby are:
– a place of development (interior versus exterior),
– the predominance of physical, mental or manual involvement,
-the form of participation and competition: individual, pairs, collective,
-the activity participation type (functional versus observation) and the structural characteristics (material).
On the other hand, there seem to be other groups that, although classifiable with the previous elements, seem to have enough identity based on one or more exclusive characteristics to deserve a group. This happens, for example, with games, volunteering or travelling. Unfortunately, we have not found studies that scientifically analyze the elements that make up the hobby and its function in the possible constitution of groups.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the classification is the inclusion of activities considered observational or contemplative. Of the latter, the most obvious example is the most frequent leisure activity (a terminological contradiction) by far, such as watching TV and other prevalent ones such as reading the newspaper, listening to the radio or surfing the Internet. The contemplative attitude is not necessarily passive because the subject can participate mentally, emotionally, and interactively. In any case, the taste for the reflective, as opposed to the participatory, is what most differentiates certain hobbies (watching sports, listening to music, reading, watching TV series, going to the movies or the theatre) and hobbies from hobbies. Strictly speaking, those hobbies and pastimes could be excluded from the list of hobbies, but as the difference is not entirely clear-cut, it seems reasonable to include them. It should also be noted that there are different degrees of coping with the hobby. The one who listens to music while doing something different or to fill the time is not the same as the one who listens to it for unique and specific interest and is, to a variable extent, a connoisseur of music who, in extreme cases, is called a music lover (or movie buff). In the case of cinema.
