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.

Reading/Discussion Schedule:

Preface, Chapters 1 & 2 - Sunday 21st November

Chapters 3 & 4 - Sunday 28th November

Chapters 5 & 6 - Sunday 5th December

Chapter 7 - Sunday 12th December

PDF

PDF of the original essay that led to the book

Audio version of the essay

How to join the Perusall group

bullshit jobs torrent at audiobookbay.nl

  • Adelrado [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I was listening to the audiobook and was so wrapped up in it that I totally missed the chapter and accidentally read through like chapter 7 haha. Really good book, like @Fuckface69 said I love Graeber's writing style. I think mostly this book puts in to words and defines a lot of things I kinda knew instinctively but didn't know how to express the ideas. The different categories of bullshit jobs are interesting, I also liked how he makes sure to always call out when a job isn't in and of itself bullshit, but it's just a shit job to have.

      • Helmic [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Yeah, it's a very keen insight. "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean" is such a clear and obvious example where a company may well lose money because an employee is using up supplies and perhaps bothering customers and can't even quickly respond to whatever might need done because they gotta go put up their cleaning supplies first, all just so that the employer can feel more secure that they're not "wasting" the time they paid for. The example with digging the rocks out of the field is particularly infuriating in its pointless cruelty.