Boredom and Alienation have become common symptoms of capitalism and can be found in workplaces all across contemporary society. In this project I set out to identify jobs in which these tendencies are most prevalent and to look at how and why this situation has arisen and what can be done to alter this damaging situation that we now find ourselves in. Case Study: Call centre workers workers are more satisfied at work when they: ‐ have a variety of tasks to complete ‐ are not just taking calls all day ‐ have more control over their methods used during conversations ‐ are provided with training to develop their skills. However, due to capitalist demand for the best possible profits from the least possible expense of resources mean that such conditions are not considered to be important and therefore call centre workers are often bored and frustrated with their jobs. Alienation: The philosophical concept of alienation denotes the state in which a person feels foreign to the world around them. This can occur, according to Marx, when labour no longer belongs to a worker but becomes a commodity to be bought and sold by the ruling classes who dominate the working class. Is Postmodernity to blame? Habermas believes that the fragmentation which has occurred in postmodernity is to blame for the crisis in communication. He claims that the ‘unfinished project of modernity’ needs to be completed by uniting all the different language games, created by the capitalistic colonization of knowledge as a commodity, by striving to reach consensus through negotiation and thus progressing towards Modernity’s goal of universal emancipation. This could be achieved, Habermas argues, through his theory of communicative action, which envisages a set of ideal conditions for genuine communication which could be used as a reference to ensure that negotiations were just. In essence, the breakdown in genuine communication and the instrumentalization of reason have led to people being dominated in a way which renders them un‐free. Therefore, if people could communicate in a way that was mediated by what is just and what is fair then people could break out of the shackles that their employers put them in and act in a way which is responsible and free at work.
Tag: boredom
Field of Exploration: I have chosen to examine the experience of boredom in myself and my closest friends. I will look at the way our level of interest I will look at the way our level of interest has changed from our school days to the present day.
Aims and objectives: To discover what causes boredom at different stages of our lives from school years to adult life. To examine the philosophical implications on the life of an individual. To discover ways to prevent and overcome boredom in onself and others.
Abstract: Boredom is something that affects everybody at some point in their lives. For some it is a force that motivates them to change, for others it is a curse that drains them of their motivation.
Heidegger provides an in-dept analysis of boredom and he suggests using boredom to attune to Dasein.This investigation takes Heidegger’s work as a starting point and myself as its subject matter in an attempt to discover the true essence of boredom and perhaps find ways to combat it.
Sources: Heidegger – The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, Nietzsche -Human, All too human: Beyond Good and Evil, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, Blanchot – The Infinite Conversation, Kierkegaard – Either/Or