EMBRACING THE ROLE OF AMATEUR - HOW KARAOKE BAR PATRONS BECOME REGULAR PERFORMERS

Robert Stebbins (1992) notes that amateurs occupy a marginal position in many cultural fields. Yet amateur pursuits offer more expressive an d fulfilling alternatives to dominant, casual leisure forms. This arti cle refines Stebbins's work on amateurs by considering how karaoke per formers overcome role conflict and achieve role embracement. It recoun ts how karaoke bar patrons accomplish their decisions to perform and t heir actual performances. It concludes with some reflections on the fu ture of karaoke as a modem amateur activity.