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BOREDOM ESCAPES US: a CULTURAL COLLAGE in ELEVEN STOREYS by Lesley Kenny a Thesis Submitted in Conformity with the Requirements

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BOREDOM ESCAPES US: a CULTURAL COLLAGE in ELEVEN STOREYS by Lesley Kenny a Thesis Submitted in Conformity with the Requirements BOREDOM ESCAPES US: A CULTURAL COLLAGE IN ELEVEN STOREYS by Lesley Kenny A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Sociology University of Toronto ©Copyright by Lesley Kenny (2009) BOREDOM ESCAPES US: A CULTURAL COLLAGE IN ELEVEN STOREYS Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Lesley Kenny Department of Sociology University of Toronto Abstract Few sociologists have addressed the concept of boredom despite interest in the subject and experience of boredom from psychology, philosophy, the arts and popular culture. Classical sociological concepts of alienation, anomie and disenchantment are related to boredom, but do not address it directly. The history of the word boredom itself is not clear, though it appears it was first used in the late 19th century. Most authors agree that an increase in individualism and the concomitant rise in secularization, combined with industrial changes in labour and increased bureaucracy, help to explain a perceived increase in the experience of boredom. This dissertation is a phenomenological exploration of boredom, informed by the writings of Martin Heidegger and Walter Benjamin on the subject. Inspired by Benjamin’s method of literary montage, from his monumental Passagenwerk, I construct a cultural collage of the subject of boredom. I use the metaphor of storeys (the levels of a building) as an organizing device to construct the empirical work of this project. These storeys include a consideration and analysis of: billboards, internet advertising, the reflections of an overseas development worker, art installations, a poem, a greeting card, a play, song lyrics and Kafka’s short story character, the hunger artist. Each storey serves to inspire a sociological meditation on the subject of boredom, all of which are grounded in the historical, social and philosophical reviews in the first four chapters. These extensive reviews, as well as the eleven storeys, contribute a preliminary sociological analysis of the ambiguous yet ubiquitous experience of boredom in modernity. ii Acknowledgements It is with pleasure that I thank my dissertation committee members. My supervisor, Y. Michal Bodemann, provided me with what I needed most: faith in my ideas and my ability to put them to good use in a project of this size and non-traditional style. For his intellectual support and convivial friendship, I am grateful. Joe Bryant introduced me to the complexities of the philosophy of science and I hope that my attempts to grapple with this complexity are evident in this work. Shyon Baumann’s enthusiastic reaction to my request to sit on this committee came at a crucial time. His sharp mind is grounded firmly in the practicalities of the world, two attributes that were great assets to me in the completion of this project. Thank you to my external examiners, Ivan Kalmar and Elizabeth Goodstein, who graciously provided me with incisive feedback and words of encouragement. Jeannette Wright’s wisdom, compassion and practical support have meant a great deal to me over the past few years. Tina Colomvakos’ warmth and humour saved many days, when I thought it was game over. Linda Gardiner has the gift of always greeting me like a long lost friend. I thank these women for their personal, as well as professional, support. My graduate studies were supported in part by SSHRC and OGS fellowships. I am deeply appreciative of the intelligent camaraderie I found amongst my closest graduate student friends as well as my other friends and family members. One friend in particular has been there since the beginning, never at a loss for words when I often was. I thank Colin Reid for every single supportive email he has sent me over the years (there are now too many to count). His wit and wisdom, like his fresh garlic, were good for my body and soul. I am lucky indeed to count him amongst my closest friends. Bill Magee has always asked me about my work and taken an interest in what I was reading or what I had to say. I am very grateful for his friendship, intellectual support and mentorship over the years. Although I was never his student, I learned the most from Bill. Most importantly, to me, I am a better teacher because of him. Brenda Ueland writes, “when you begin to plan such a huge edifice of words, your heart fails you.” She was right: but Greg House has sustained me, in every way, unfailingly. I dedicate this work to him and to my mother, Rosemary Cowan, RN, M.Div. (1937-2010), who, thanks to Greg, attended my PhD party via skype. Thanks, mum. iii Table of Contents Title Page …i Abstract …ii Acknowledgements …iii List of Figures …vi List of Appendices …vi Chapter One: Introducing Boredom …1 Defining and Describing Boredom …4 States of Boredom, Repression of Desires: Boredom Defined in Psychology and Psychoanalysis …6 Descriptions of Despair and Disinterest: Boredom in Sociology …10 Cultural Critics, Philosophers, Artists: Boredom as Liberator, Boredom as Dictator …12 Boredom is Interesting and (Almost) Everywhere …15 Boredom in Academic Literature …15 Boredom in Popular Culture: Print, Television and the Internet …22 Boredom in the Arts …27 No Boredom in Sociology? …34 Boredom and Benjamin …37 Chapter Outline …39 Chapter Two: Methodological Approach and Methods for a Sociological Study of Boredom …41 Introduction …41 Lyrical Sociology …42 Benjamin’s Literary Montage: Show, Don’t Tell …44 Dialectical Images …47 Adorno’s Critique …50 Cultural Collage of Boredom …51 Use of Images: a Visual Sociology of Boredom? …53 Responses to Adorno’s Critique …56 (1) Systematic, Reflexive Literature Review …57 (2) Discussion and Critical Analysis of Empirical Cases …58 Cases: Eleven Storeys of Boredom …59 Phenomenological Lineage …60 The Eleven Storeys …64 iv Chapter Three: Etiology, Social and Philosophical History of Boredom …66 Introduction …66 Etiology of Boredom …66 Acedia …66 Acedia? …72 Ennui …69 Langeweile …78 The Birth of “Boredom” …84 400 Years of Boredom: Philosophers and Social Theorists from the 17th to the 21st Centuries …86 Heidegger’s Phenomenology of Boredom …104 Benjamin’s Literary Montage of Boredom …113 Boredom and Modernity …119 Chapter Four: A Literature Review: Boredom in Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Sociology …120 Introduction …120 Typologies of Boredom …120 Boredom in Psychology …124 Boredom in Psychoanalysis …138 Depression and Anxiety, Boredom’s Close Cousins? …140 Boredom in Sociology …143 Summary of Boredom Literature Findings from Psychology and Sociology …163 Relating these Results to My Project …164 Empirical Prevalence of Boredom …165 Other (Contemporary) Literature …169 Summary …171 Chapter Five: A Cultural Collage in Eleven Storeys …173 Introduction …173 First Storey • Dodging the Villain, Boredom …175 Second Storey • Escaping Boredom (in a “guilt-free” SUV) …184 Third Storey • The Weight of Meaning: Escaping from the Escape of Boredom …192 Fourth Storey • Representing Boredom …197 Fifth Storey • Performing Boredom …206 Sixth Storey • Representing a Boring City: the Political Economy of Boredom …223 Seventh Storey • Langeweile: The Poetry of Time and Nothingness …227 v Eighth Storey • Impotence and Boredom: Incapacities of Desire …235 Ninth Storey • Heidegger’s Dinner Party: Boredom and Hope …241 Tenth Storey • Boredom in Nirvana …246 Eleventh Storey • The Hunger for Meaning …251 Boredom: a Dialectic of Absurd Refusal …256 Chapter Six: The Future of Boredom …247 A Note on Methods …267 Project Limitations …268 The Future of Boredom …254 References …273 Figures Figure 1: Ennui, by Walter Sickert …77 Figure 2: Typologies of Boredom …121 Figure 3: Four Sectors of Information Search (Klapp 1986) …150 Figure 4: Dodge Wallscape, downtown Toronto …179 Figure 5: Residential building, downtown Toronto …180 Figure 6: Billboard advertisement, Toronto …206 Figure 7: Billboard in context …199 Figure 8: “The Structure of Boredom (After Oden)” …202 Figure 9: Detail, “The Structure of Boredom (After Oden)” …203 Figure 10: 2005 Hallmark greeting card …223 Appendices Appendix A: Table of Psychology Studies Measuring Boredom …305 Appendix B: “Boredom” and “Bored to Death” in Other Languages …310 Appendix C: Boredom Proneness Scale (Farmer and Sundberg 1986) …312 vi Chapter One Introducing Boredom Against boredom the gods themselves fight in vain. ~ Nietzsche (2005[1895]:69) The expanding definition of boredom in our own time means that by now one might argue that virtually every word currently written speaks of the condition in one way or another. ~ Spacks (1995:ix) Sociologist Robert Nisbet writes that, “among the forces that have shaped human behavior, boredom is one of the most insistent and universal” (Nisbet 1982:22; cf Russell 1996:48). Boredom? The word itself has an almost onomatopoeic quality; the very sound of the word evokes the whining echo from our childhood, “I’m boooorrrred.” We remember the oppressive languor, the restlessness of waiting for an unnamed something; wanting to “eff the ineffable,” as the incisive Samuel Beckett once said (in Eagleton 2006). But surely this is a description of individual frustration, a fleeting, finger-drumming experience of disinterest, a notably mundane and everyday subjective experience. How can it be of interest to sociology? What is actually sociological about boredom? When I say, “I am bored,” I am not simply saying “I have nothing to do,” but rather, “I can think of nothing to do that is meaningful for me.” The concept of boredom is intertwined with issues of meaning (Barbalet 1999; Healy 1984; Goodstein 2005; Svendsen 2005). This brings boredom into the realm of the existential; yet the experience is considered quite ordinary and everyday. In fact, boredom could be considered ubiquitous, at least in western culture. Heidegger lectured to his students: “Boredom – who is not acquainted with it in the most varied forms and disguises in which it arises, in the way it often befalls us, only for a moment, the way it torments and depresses us for longer periods too” (1995:79).
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