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

  • Helmic [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    The gas thing I think is an interesting example in particular, since most jobs don't actually pay you for travel time and expenses. But they want you to come into work physically anyways, even when there's not really a point to it, not even survellience to make sure you're doing the job (because they were too lazy to do that anyways). It's a degree of control over your time that they're not even actually paying for, but they still feel entitled to.