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Bullshit Jobs
Bullshit Jobs
Oct 11, 2024 4:28 PM

Author:David Graeber

Bullshit Jobs

'Spectacular and terrifyingly true' Owen Jones

'Explosive' John McDonnell, New Statesman, Books of the Year

'Thought-provoking and funny' The Times

FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018, THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018, NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 and CITY AM BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

Be honest: if your job didn't exist, would anybody miss it? Have you ever wondered why not? Up to 40% of us secretly believe our jobs probably aren't necessary. In other words: they are bullshit jobs. This book shows why, and what we can do about it.

In the early twentieth century, people prophesied that technology would see us all working fifteen-hour weeks and driving flying cars. Instead, something curious happened. Not only have the flying cars not materialised, but average working hours have increased rather than decreased. And now, across the developed world, three-quarters of all jobs are in services, finance or admin: jobs that don't seem to contribute anything to society. In Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber explores how this phenomenon - one more associated with the Soviet Union, but which capitalism was supposed to eliminate - has happened. In doing so, he looks at how, rather than producing anything, work has become an end in itself; the way such work maintains the current broken system of finance capital; and, finally, how we can get out of it.

This book is for anyone whose heart has sunk at the sight of a whiteboard, who believes 'workshops' should only be for making things, or who just suspects that there might be a better way to run our world.

Reviews

Spectacular and terrifyingly true. David Graeber's theory of the broken capitalist workforce is right - work has become an end in itself. A timely book from the most provocative anthropologist and thinker of our time.

—— Owen Jones

Equally explosive, my anarchist friend, David Graeber, yet again has thrown a hand grenade into the political economy debate with his Bullshit Jobs (Allen Lane), a call to strike out for freedom from meaningless work.

—— John McDonnell , New Statesman, Books of the Year

Here's a gift for a friend working in PR or HR. David Graeber's thesis is that they are working in"bullshit jobs". A bullshit job, he says, is one that its holder knows to be pointless or pernicious even though they must pretend otherwise. There are five sorts: flunkies (commissionaires, receptionists), goons (lobbyists, lawyers), duct tapers (who sort out problems others have created), box tickers, and taskmasters (management). It's a provocative case ... but you get the feeling he is on to something; there do seem to be a lot of pointless jobs in the modern economy

—— Robbie Millen , The Times, Books of the Year

Anthropologist David Graeber embarks on a provocative quest to find and explain the existence of countless mindless and pointless roles. He divides them into "flunkies", "goons", "duct-tapers", "box-tickers", and "taskmasters". It is an entertaining, if subjective study of a problem and an examination of potential answers, including a universal basic income.

—— Andrew Hill , Financial Times, Business Book of the Year

Anthropology professor and colourful anarchist David Graeber has opened a Pandora's box of the modern era by questioning the relevance of the swollen ranks of middle management and bullshit jobs that have cropped up across a variety of industries. A controversial but thought-provoking endeavour

—— City AM Book of the Year

An LSE anthropologist with a track record of countering economic myths through a mix of anecdote, erudition, and political radicalism, Graeber is as good an analyst of the increasingly cowpatted field of modern employment as one could wish. And entertaining and thoroughly depressing read... it is extremely thought-provoking

—— Tim Smith-Laing , Telegraph

A provocative, funny and engaging book... that captures the imagination and deserves our attention

—— Financial Times

Have you ever wondered what your doctor thinks and feels once you walk out the door? Also Human is the uncensored answer - and it’s haunting, beautiful, and urgent for all of us to know.

—— Johann Hari

An important, necessary book. Also Human shows that doctors are indeed all so human.

—— Dean Burnett, author of The Idiot Brain

Doctors are people, too. They possess the same virtues, faults, fears and desires of the rest of us but it's easy for patients to forget this obvious truth. Caroline Elton's revelatory, sometimes disturbing, book, is a welcome reminder of this. For doctors and patients alike, this book is required reading.

—— Nick Rennison , Daily Mail

A shocking indictment of a system of training and supervision that ought to have gone out of fashion and use decades ago. Caroline Elton's incisive prose, and her impatience with the way people display prejudice and poor practice in front of her makes for very good, if highly disturbing, reading. I was horrified by this book, but so glad she has written it.

—— Julia Neuberger

Shocking… a graphic exposé of the exhaustion, depression, and stress among doctors and it has sent shock waves across the health services.

—— Irish Examiner

Timely, passionately argued.

—— British Journal of General Practice

A compelling book from start to finish. Cohen-Hatton uses her own experiences as a firefighter to expose the psychology behind her decisions and emotions. A great read and accessible to all.

—— Phil Butler, University of Cardiff

A compelling and exciting read. A great insight into decision-making on the front line of firefighting . . . Immersive stories, tension and fantastic lessons to take away. I loved it!

—— Flt Lt (Rtd) Mandy Hickson, former RAF Tornado pilot

One of the UK's most senior firefighters share heart-in-the-mouth stories from her 18 years in the emergency services, taking us to the very heat of battle; from scenes of devastation and crisis, to the quieter moments when these unassuming heroes question both themselves and the decisions they are forced to make. As we all as being extraordinarily courageous, Cohen-Hatton has an impressive professional track record: her award winning research into decision-making in the emergency services has transformed policy at a global level.

—— The Bookseller

A fascinating read

—— Dan Walker , BBC Breakfast

This book is incredible!

—— Louise Minchin , BBC Breakfast

WOW! I just could not put it down! . . . It will enlighten people about the human aspects of firefighting, the challenges of decision-making under pressure and the way in which university research has helped to understand and improve the way leaders approach critical decisions. It’s certainly made me think about how I can use the principles discussed to help people in a variety of leadership positions.

—— Karen Holford, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University

This book will change the way you think. Forever.

—— Cosmpolitan

As well as being a fire-fighter, she’s a fire-thinker, and that’s what makes this book stand out.

—— Daily Mail

An inspiring, vivid account of the dangerous world of firefighting

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

Wang . . . eloquently balances personal narrative and empirical research to offer a powerful series of insights into a woefully misunderstood world.

—— SF Weekly

This beautifully written work will expand your thinking about severe mental illness and mental illness in general

—— Rewire.News

The Collected Schizophrenias is illumination and important--not only because it educates and challenges--but because it forces us to consider how much we still have to work to undo historical and systematic damage, to challenge our own broken, misguided partiality towards what it means to be healthy and sane

—— The Arkansas International

[The Collected Schizophrenias] organizes the confusion, terror and complexity of [Wang's] experience into an imperfectly cohesive, profoundly illuminating whole.

—— Shelf Awareness

Penetrating and revelatory.

—— Publisher's Weekly

This mesmerizing collection of essays has achieved the rarest of rarities--a meaningful and expansive language for a subject that has been long bound by both deep revulsion and intense fascination

—— Jenny Zhang

A brilliant guide to the complexities of thinking about illness, and mental illness, in particular. It will bring hope to others searching to understand their own diagnoses

—— Meghan O'Rourke

A masterful braiding of the achingly personal and the incisively researched. . . . This book is a vital, illuminating window onto the world we all already live in, but find all too easy to ignore

—— Alexandra Kleeman

You won't find any pity-baiting, sensationalism, or false positivity here; Wang is so candidly aware that I'd trust her over my own diary

—— Tony Tulathimutte

Esmé Weijun Wang offers us an all-access pass to her beautiful, unquiet mind. . . Rarely has a book about living with mental illness felt so immediate, raw, and powerful

—— Dani Shapiro

The Collected Schizophrenias is at once generous and brilliantly nuanced, rigorous and bold. It had me rethinking what it is to be well or ill.

—— R.O. Kwon

Esmé Weijun Wang sends out revelatory dispatches from an under-mapped land, shot like arrows in all directions from a taut bow of a mind. . . . Her work changes the way we think about illness - which is to say that it changes us

—— Whiting Award Selection Committee
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