Classification of hobbies by groups or types
This post analyzes in considerable detail (it is somewhat tiresome) the reason and the way of grouping hobbies into categories or according to types.
Classifying hobbies into large sections or groups, both from a theoretical and practical point of view, is mesmerizing. Strong did something similar to classify professions according to their “psychological” types. He pointed out the following groups: realistic, investigative, conventional, artistic, enterprising and social, explaining Holland the existence of a relationship of closeness or antagonism between these groups.
In studies, professions, and careers, there are also large groupings by essential characteristics of the job, such as, for example, “sciences, humanities and social sciences and arts” in high school. In Universities, areas are also classified, sometimes generating specific Faculties or Schools such as health, information, art, law, engineering, social sciences, economics, etc…
There are quite a few classifications of hobbies by groups, with several elements or titles in common and others that are different. Based on what criteria have these classifications or groupings been made? It is difficult to know, unlike those above Strong/Holland classification for races, which is based on psychological typology with severe studies.
Some of the complete classifications of hobbies – in some instances implicitly included in leisure activities – that can be found on the Internet and in a book dedicated to the subject are the following:
On Wikipedia, hobbies are classified as indoor, casual, outdoor, collecting (indoor or outdoor), competition (indoor and outdoor), and observation (indoor and outdoor)
Stebbins (http://www.seriousleisure.net/concepts.html), a well-known proponent of the “serious leisure” vs “casual leisure” and “project-based” concepts, distinguishes five categories of “hobbyists”
1) collectors, 2) crafts, 3) active participants (in non-competitive rules-based activities, such as fishing), 4) sports and game players (in competitive rules-based activities with no professional counterpart, such as long-distance running or competitive swimming), and 5) liberal arts hobby enthusiasts, who are primarily readers.
He separates them, although with common elements, from the “amateurs”, also from the “volunteers”, and from the “occupational devotees”,
In http://freeintenyears.com/frugal-tips/100-cheap-hobbies/, they distinguish:
Intellectual exercise, online, outdoors, social, new skills, community, travel, financial, on your own.
At https://hobbylark.com/misc/How-to-Choose-a-Hobby, the groups are: sharpen the mind, kids and families, physical activity, adventure seekers, for science and nature lovers, crazy about history, for men, to make money, crafts, for collectors, for homemakers, for artists, for social, for the music lover, cheap, that help others, to improve stress and seasonal hobbies.
At http://discoverahobby.com/, the groups are:
Arts and crafts, games, models and electronics, performing arts, music, spiritual and mental, food and drink, sports, outdoors and pets
At: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/College-Student-Journal/172978000.html
outdoor adventure activities (climbing, mountain biking…), competitive active sports (basketball, soccer, hockey…), individual active sports (golf, running, tennis) and passive activities (scrapbook, TV…)
In www.reconomics.works, although they refer to outdoor leisure activities, those related to hobbies would be: being outdoors, creative activities, health or relaxation, casual games, non-competitive risk activities, activities carried out commercially, studies of the environment, volunteering to conserve the environment, sustainable trips to the open air.
In the book Get a Hobby by T. Baserghian (Collins, 2006), the groups are: charitable, artistic, cerebral, spiritual, and travel-related.
As can be seen, these classifications are based mainly on the differential characteristics of the hobbies and not on the psychological types as in Strong’s and Holland’s sort of races; classes, on the other hand, are challenging to transfer to the different hobbies for which it would be necessary to look for other more definitive ones. However, it should be noted that the most relevant psychological characteristics are contained in all the revised classifications, such as the “altruistic”, “artistic”, “competitive”, “contemplative”, and “social” groups, among others.
