What are the politics of boredom? And how should we relate to boredom? In this paper, I explore these questions through cases where the disaffection and restlessness of boredom have become a matter of concern in the UK and USA at the junctures between Fordism and neoliberalism, and amid today’s resurgence of right-wing populism. I argue that what repeats across the critique of the ‘ordinary ordinariness’ of Fordism, the neoliberal counterrevolution and today’s right-wing populism is a ‘promise of intensity’ – the promise that life will feel eventful and boredom will be absent. As I make this argument, I reflect on the role of critique in the context of the multiplication of modes of inquiry that has accompanied the interest in affect across the humanities and social sciences. Rejecting the dismissal of critique in some affect-related work, I advocate for and exemplify a type of ‘diagnostic critique’ based on the practice of conjunctural analysis as pioneered by Stuart Hall and colleagues.

无聊的政治是什么？以及我们应该如何与无聊联系起来？在本文中，我将通过以下案例探讨这些问题：在福特主义和新自由主义之间的交界以及当今右翼民粹主义复兴之时，无聊的不满和不安已成为英国和美国关注的问题。我认为，在福特主义，新自由主义反革命和今天的右翼民粹主义的“通常的平凡性”的批判中，重复发生的事情是“强度的承诺”，即生活将变得多事而无聊的诺言将消失。在我提出这一论点时，我在批判方式的背景下反思批判的作用，这种方式伴随着对人文科学和社会科学领域影响力的关注。拒绝驳斥某些与情感有关的工作中的批评，