Sierra Sheard

The frequent or chronic experience of boredom has been shown to be strongly connected to one’s well-being. Individuals who score high on measures of boredom proneness face several psychological, physical, and even social harms. Although boredom can affect anyone’s well-being, its impact is not uniform across all individuals and social groups. Social identity can alter one’s experience of boredom, and in this chapter, we expand upon the existing literature on the social dimensions of boredom to detail how marginalization on the basis of one’s race can transform one’s relationship to boredom. We argue that, within the context of race, the experience of boredom can cause further significant psychological and social harms for those who belong to racially minoritized or marginalized groups. The experience of this form of boredom – racialized boredom – is based in iniquitous social institutions and structures. As a result, it becomes harder to alleviate it, and solutions to its psychological and social harms are severely restricted. Such a realization underscores boredom’s potential to become a deeply unjust phenomenon: the pervasiveness of racialized boredom further disenfranchises those who are already marginalized and presents additional barriers to their well-being.