Boredom results from compelled labour, not from human nature
Evidence
Boredom is a function of life which is lived under the compulsion to work, and under the strict division of labour. It need not be so. Whenever behaviour in spare time is truly autonomous, determined by free people for themselves, boredom rarely figures; it need not figure in activities which cater merely for the desire for pleasure, any more than it does in those free time activities which are reasonable and meaningful in themselves. Even fooling about need not be crass, and can be enjoyed as a blessed release from the throes of self-control. If people were able to make their own decisions about themselves and their lives, if they were not caught up in the realm of the eversame, they would not have to be bored. Boredom is the reflection of objective dullness. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 277
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Capitalism neutralised boredom by demanding audience participation, not pacification
Related
- Boredom reflects objective social dullness rather than human nature (similarity 0.88)
- Boredom is a symptom of one’s own cultural and ideological limits (similarity 0.81)
- Capitalism neutralised boredom by demanding audience participation, not pacification (similarity 0.80)
- Contemporary subjects move compulsively among the boring while never feeling bored (similarity 0.80)
- Boredom with the thoroughly-studied past is a reliable catalyst for cultural innovation. (similarity 0.79)
- Communicative capitalism sublates boredom into a fascination mixed with dread (similarity 0.78)
- Boredom is a form of absorption that constant attention dispersal destroys (similarity 0.78)
- Deep boredom is the source of culture and creation (similarity 0.78)