„Time without qualities”: Boredom & Society and Culture 3502-FAKL894
The aim of the seminar is to develop reflection and knowledge concerning so underestimated and mostly rejected emotion that is boredom. During the course it will be discussed several issues including:
1. Definitions of boredom in different languages, historical and etymological approach included.
2. History of boredom from neolithic revolution to XXth century, taedium vitae, acedia, melancholy, spleen, ennui. Romantic and modern boredom.
3. Philosophy of boredom. From Blaise Pascal to Jean Paul Sartre.
4. Psychology of boredom. Theory of emotions. Boredom Proneness Scale.
5. Literature of boredom. Example of Russian literature (superfluous men) and women’s literature boredom (e.g. Virginia Woolf).
6. Military boredom. From USA Civil war to Afghanistan and Iraq.
7. Sociology of boredom. Anomy, alienation, boredom at work (burn-out, bore-out).
8. Boredom & Culture. Multicultural difference in perceiving boredom and related phenomena.
9. Boredom in a Liquid Modernity. Boredom in a culture of entertainment. Blasé and overload.
10. Academic Boredom. Boredom in the educational context.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
A student…
K_W01 knows and understands basic concepts concerning research on boredom
K_W03 is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes concerning the phenomenon of boredom; is reflective and critical of various positions
K_W16 has in-depth knowledge about major international research related to boredom
K_W27 has in-depth knowledge of the 19th, 20th and 21st ideas and social processes which have shaped the modern concept of boredom
Skills
A student…
K_U04 can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in a foreign language as well as modern technologies
K_U17 can relate an academic text to the problems of social life and its empirical studies
K_U18 can identify the kinds of research in which the scientific texts read can be applicable
K_U19 can prepare a presentation of a selected problem or study in a foreign language (discussion, presentation, translation)
Competence
A student…
K_K02 can propose a solution to a problem that requires an interdisciplinary research approach
K_K05 can gather, find, synthesize and critically assess information about different aspects of socio-cultural reality
K_K10 independently sets directions of personal development and further learning
K_K14 takes responsibility for planned and performed tasks
Assessment criteria
1) Active participation in classes
2) Reading Texas
3) Translation of a given text (from student’s mother tongue into English)
Bibliography
• Benjamin Walter (2002) Rolf Tiedemann, ed., The Arcades Project.
• Brissett, D., & Snow, R. P. (1993). Boredom: Where the future isn't. Symbolic Interaction, 16(3), 237-256.
• Brodski Josif, On Grief and Reason – Essays, In praise of boredom, 104-113.
• Darden D., Marks A. (1999) Boredom: a socially disvalued emotion. “Sociological Spectrum”, nr 19 (1) 1999, 13–37.
• Fisher Cynthia (1993) Boredom at Work: A Neglected Concept. “Human Relations”, nr 46, 395-416.
• Goodstein Elizabeth (2005) Experience without qualities: boredom and modernity.
• Klapp Orrin (1986) Overload and Boredom: Essays on the Quality of Life in an Information Society.
• Kuhn Reinhard (1976) The Demon of Noontide: Ennui In Western Literature.
• Musharbash Yasmine (2007) Boredom, Time and Modernity: An Example from Aboriginal Australia. “American Anthropologist”, nr 109(2), 307-317.
• Pease Allison (2012) Modernism, Feminism and the Culture of Boredom.
• Rothlin Philippe, Werder Peter (2008) Boreout!: overcoming workplace demotivation.
• Spacks Patricia (1995) Boredom: The literary history of a state of mind.
• Svendsen Lars (2005) A Philosophy of Boredom. London: Reaktion Books.
• Toohey Peter (2011) Boredom: a Lively History.
• Wenzel Siegfried (1967) The Sin of Sloth: Acedia in Medieval Thought and Literature.
• Winter Richard (2002) Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: