Meaningless employment

“Bullshit jobs” insightfully exposes the proliferation of meaningless work in our modern workplaces and explains how we got here.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Poignant!

Ever more so. Graeber’s contribution is original, hopeful, practical and engaging. Really loved every minute!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Cuts through to some good arguments!

This was an eye opener, it has described to me exactly what I've thought for a long time, my bosses job is BS!

Listen, arm yourself with knowledge and understanding of just how badly our businesses are stuctured, and maybe call out a BS worker...?

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Thought provoking, despite ideological digressions

Sometimes the book deviated unnecessarily into philosophical or ideological/economic musings, especially at the end where the full anarcho communist colours were shown. Still worth it over all for the questioning of how useful a lot of the jobs you see around you and at corporate workplaces are.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Bullshit Jobs: A Reality

“It’s hard to imagine a surer sign that one is dealing with an irrational economic system than the fact that the prospect of eliminating drudgery is considered to be a problem.” - David Graeber

For me this is the poignant heart of the entire problem; how is it that in our pursuit of making life easier, we’re now making it harder for lack of imagination?

We left the shady canopies of the jungle, stood upright, learned to sweat, braved the savannah, built primitive canoes and populated new lands, harnessed steam, tamed electrons and are now on the precipice of being able to free everyone from drudgery and our biggest dilemma is we can’t work out a productive way to imagine how this might be.

The history of humanity, of all life for that matter, is one of change; increasing complexity and control that feeds back into itself. Yet, now, for lack of a mental model that has been stripped via indoctrination, we are now at an impasse with ourselves - the economy has become a kind of shotgun pointed back on itself and instead of trying to invent our way out of that situation we’re merely spending all our time trying to figure out how to keep the proverbial gun from firing, and we’re losing precious time.

David makes a strong, neigh impenetrable, argument that 50%+ of current occupations have been invented to keep the wheels turning, for no other reason than to allow people to earn money to spend back in; a useless exercise that wastes resources and life.

Think about the plethora of occupations that exist to support other occupations that are meaningless, that contribute no social value whatsoever, or those that exist merely because we’re all too busy working bullshit jobs to be able to find time to cook, or look after our children.

I used to work at a callcenter that sold everything from energy to internet, and the primary value statement was attempting to compare different costs of the same service and then harass people to try and save them an average of maybe $10/m if they change provider, which was obviously worth money to the business. I couldn’t stomach it - it’s literally a bunch of people that turn up, and get pushed to hit sales targets, that produce nothing of value... nothing. It only exists because we have 20+ electricity providers in Australia... why? There’s only one electrical infrastructure and electrons always work the same. These companies don’t provide anything, they meter your use and bill you with increasingly complex arrays of discounts and rates, all with a different colour letterhead to their competitor.

There are literally thousands and thousands of people, even hundreds of thousands, fuck it, millions of people, that work in what I call ‘Self Serving Chains of Reliance’, and it’s insanity.

We don’t trust people to not work, work is a virtue in and of itself even if it’s a heinous waste of time and resources; the narrative from top-down has worked a treat and we now beat one another over the head for being lazy if we’re not willing to torture ourselves, unless we’re of the lucky few that manage to get paid for something that matters.

People are what we tell them they are, and what we make them. And we have told them they are lazy, and convinced them of this truth; a more permeating self perpetuating prophecy there is not.

And don’t even get me started on the statistically proven inversely proportionate relationship between job income and social value contribution... what kind of world do we want?

We need to return to a time where self-help books (usually about wealth) are tossed in the trash and books that deal with structuring the world in such a way that we produce not monetary wealth, but the kinds of people we want to be around.

Aristotle had it right when he said, “Men [and women] acquire particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.”

What ways are we forcing people to act in, and in doing so what qualities are they attaining that continually create the world?

If you can think of a reason for your job to exist, outside of giving you money that you need, or merely occupying your time, please pick up this book - it’s more important than the title may suggest.

We are torturing ourselves, and we’re on the precipice of vindication via autonomy or a divide such that we’ve never seen; what world will we choose?

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

Mind fuck

Although it was a bit repetitive in parts, it was, like all of Graeber's books, very interesting. I'm not totally sold on all of it, but it is definitely deserving of a re-read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Eye-opening

Eye-opening, big picture exploration of how the managerial class came to be and why it's harming our world and our souls. A problem we should all wake up to, told beautifully, with empathy and acerbic wit.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

AN IMPORTANT READ

As an anthropologist myself, this is one of the best, most important books I’ve ever read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Incredible uncovering of the useless job epidemic

I have been aware of the massive overtaking of pretty much every industry by bureaucratic and administration for quite a while, witnessing it in my own field (construction) and how so many people don't really contribute anything of any value to society, well this book goes deep into this issue which lies hidden from most people, David does it in an entertaining way, i laughed out loud several times hearing examples of peoples insanely useless jobs from all over the world, but he also backs up his theory with facts. I enjoyed this book so much that this is actually the first book review i've ever written and i'm probably going to listen to it again straight away!.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Must read!

Broke down many of my misconceptions, and the beliefs I’d constructed as answers to those misconceptions. Well worth the listen. For anyone who cares about the future of humanity, regardless of whether or not you agree with the authors views, this book is incisive and essential to our next steps.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!