2025/05/12 by Stańczyk, Piotr
#boredom #capitalism #forced-effort #phenomenography #schooling
paper · doi:10.34813/01coll2025
The main purpose of the article is to answer the question of moral and political responsibility for school boredom. The starting point for consideration is inductive and comes from phenomenographic research on the meaning given to school by students and their teachers. The results of the study point to the theory of forced-effort as the most valid theory to explain the phenomenon of boredom at school. However, quantitative studies undermine this theory, and their authors are inclined to blame students for being bored at school (Larson & Richards, 1991). In the article, I propose a potential solution to the dilemma of whether to blame students or teachers, using a combination of sociological and psychological models to explain boredom. In what follows, the phenomenon of boredom at school is embedded in the broader phenomenon of the expansion of boredom that is taking place in modern times. Finally, the emancipatory potential of boredom is outlined.