diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/tests.py b/django/contrib/admin/tests.py
index c99488cd41..30d63e4486 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/tests.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/tests.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import os
+
 from django.test import LiveServerTestCase
 from django.utils.module_loading import import_by_path
 from django.utils.unittest import SkipTest
@@ -8,6 +10,8 @@ class AdminSeleniumWebDriverTestCase(LiveServerTestCase):
 
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls):
+        if os.environ.get('DJANGO_SKIP_SELENIUM_TESTS', False):
+            raise SkipTest('Selenium tests skipped by explicit request')
         try:
             cls.selenium = import_by_path(cls.webdriver_class)()
         except Exception as e:
diff --git a/docs/internals/contributing/writing-code/unit-tests.txt b/docs/internals/contributing/writing-code/unit-tests.txt
index a03951d141..59f4c97c92 100644
--- a/docs/internals/contributing/writing-code/unit-tests.txt
+++ b/docs/internals/contributing/writing-code/unit-tests.txt
@@ -136,6 +136,15 @@ Then, run the tests normally, for example:
 
     ./runtests.py --settings=test_sqlite admin_inlines
 
+If you have Selenium installed but for some reason don't want to run these tests
+(for example to speed up the test suite), use the ``--skip-selenium`` option
+of the test runner.
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    ./runtests.py --settings=test_sqlite --skip-selenium admin_inlines
+
+
 .. _running-unit-tests-dependencies:
 
 Running all the tests
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/i18n.py b/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/i18n.py
index 0a091ed1b7..206cf3d256 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/i18n.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/views/tests/i18n.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import gettext
+import os
 from os import path
 
 from django.conf import settings
@@ -176,6 +177,10 @@ class JsI18NTestsMultiPackage(TestCase):
                     javascript_quote('este texto de app3 debe ser traducido'))
 
 
+skip_selenium = os.environ.get('DJANGO_SKIP_SELENIUM_TESTS', False)
+
+
+@unittest.skipIf(skip_selenium, 'Selenium tests skipped by explicit request')
 @unittest.skipUnless(firefox, 'Selenium not installed')
 class JavascriptI18nTests(LiveServerTestCase):
     urls = 'regressiontests.views.urls'
diff --git a/tests/runtests.py b/tests/runtests.py
index c23737ed14..b9de137ea2 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.py
+++ b/tests/runtests.py
@@ -301,7 +301,12 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         '--liveserver', action='store', dest='liveserver', default=None,
         help='Overrides the default address where the live server (used with '
              'LiveServerTestCase) is expected to run from. The default value '
-             'is localhost:8081.'),
+             'is localhost:8081.')
+    parser.add_option(
+        '--skip-selenium', action='store_true', dest='skip_selenium',
+        default=False,
+        help='Skip running Selenium tests even it Selenium itself is '
+             'installed. By default these tests are not skipped.')
     options, args = parser.parse_args()
     if options.settings:
         os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = options.settings
@@ -314,6 +319,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     if options.liveserver is not None:
         os.environ['DJANGO_LIVE_TEST_SERVER_ADDRESS'] = options.liveserver
 
+    if options.skip_selenium:
+        os.environ['DJANGO_SKIP_SELENIUM_TESTS'] = '1'
+
     if options.bisect:
         bisect_tests(options.bisect, options, args)
     elif options.pair: