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David Graeber – ‘Bullshit Jobs’. In this book, David Graeber argues that there are millions of people across the world — clerical workers, administrators, consultants, telemarketers, corporate lawyers, service personnel, and many others — who are toiling away in meaningless, unnecessary jobs, and they know it. Capitalism is supposed to bring efficiency, but instead of freeing ourselves from the suffocating 40-hour workweek, we’ve invented a whole universe of futile occupations that are professionally unsatisfying and spiritually empty. Graeber argues that unions and a universal basic income can provide a potential solution to the phenomenon of bullshit jobs.

David Harvey – ‘A Brief History of Neoliberalism’. David Harvey presents us with the political-economic story of where neoliberalism came from, and how it proliferated on the world stage. While Thatcher and Reagan are often cited as primary authors of the neoliberal turn, Harvey shows how a complex of forces, from Chile to China and from New York City to Mexico City, have also played a part. In addition, he explores the continuities and contrasts between the neoliberalism of the Clinton sort, and the neoconservative imperialism of George W. Bush. A rich historical examination of neoliberal policies since the 1970s, the book is aimed at the general reader and provides a concise introduction to many of the key features of neoliberal theory.

Ha-Joon Chang – ‘Bad Samaritans’. In Bad Samaritans, Chang blasts holes in the orthodoxy of other liberal economists who argue that only unfettered capitalism and wide-open international trade can lift struggling nations out of poverty. On the contrary, Chang shows, today's economic superpowers—from the U.S. to Britain to his native Korea—all attained prosperity by shameless protectionism and government intervention in industry. This fact has been conveniently forgotten and replaced with a fairy tale about the magic of free trade and—via proxies such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization—ramming policies that suit ourselves down the throat of the developing world.

Shoshana Zuboff – ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’. Zuboff looks at the development of digital companies, like Google and Amazon, and suggests that their business models represent a new form of capitalist accumulation that she calls "surveillance capitalism". Zuboff brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new "behavioural futures markets," where predictions about our behaviour are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new "means of behavioural modification" - The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a "Big Other".

Vicky Osterweil - In Defense of Looting Osterweil argues that looting is a tool that results in positive change to society and that looting helps redistribute property and wealth in an unequal society, which she calls "fighting racial capitalism." Osterweil also observes in the book that "those who participate in rioting and looting tend to be the most politically informed and socially engaged in the neighborhood". Osterweil denounces nonviolence in the book, stating that when it is "pushed as a philosophical, moral, or religious principle, it gains a nasty, authoritarian edge." She also denounces local politicians and political groups who advocate for limiting looting during uprisings. (I am copying this from wikipedia, sorry this doesn't do the book justice).

Seumas Milne – ‘The Enemy Within’. We couldn’t have a neoliberal selection without a book on the Thatcher years, and in The Enemy Within, Seumas Milne doesn’t disappoint. The book investigates the circumstances surrounding the UK miners' strike (1984–1985) and the astonishing lengths to which the government and its intelligence machine were prepared to go to destroy the power of Britain’s miners’ union. This 30th anniversary edition brings the story up to date with new material and further revelations about the secret war against the labour movement, and the devastating price paid for neoliberalism’s onslaught by communities across Britain.

  • Phillipkdink [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Is it too late to do the new Graeber book? Debt was so good and this seems like it's going to be in a similar vein.

    • RedCloud [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I know that both myself and @marxisthayaca are excited for Graeber's new book, it does sound really good and I'm a fan of his work. I imagine we'll probably try and include it in one of the book club votes once we've uploaded a copy to Perusall.

      • marxisthayaca [he/him,they/them]
        hexagon
        ·
        3 years ago

        We've definitely discussed it in private and we are excited to see it published. So as soon as it can be made available, I'd love to put it up for a selection.

    • snott_morrison [comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      My copy doesnt come for a few weeks, but if anyone else is keen to do a reading group somewhere else I 'd be down?