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Bullshit Jobs
Book

Bullshit Jobs

A Theory

David Graeber
Simon & Schuster, 2018

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Innovative
  • Bold

Recommendation

David Graeber’s bestseller stems from a popular, brave and subversive article he wrote in 2013. He acknowledges in the final sentences of the book that he is presenting his controversial argument to provoke thought, not to propose solutions. The first four chapters offer amusing anecdotes about stupid jobs, but the most thought-provoking material appears in chapters five through seven. Graeber’s insights may make you consider whether politicians, the wealthy – and even you – collude to keep yourself and many other employees trapped in a life of limited freedom dominated by the frustrations of meaningless work. While always politically neutral, getAbstract suggests Graeber’s treatise to those who question the basic elements of life and work that most folks take for granted. (Warning, as you might surmise, expect some profanity.)

Take-Aways

  • Today’s corporate-driven economies emphasize pride not in what you make but in what you can buy – a profound shift. 
  • Corporations make fortunes from meaningless and even harmful or evil work. They have little incentive to reduce it.
  • More than half of all work is meaningless and pointless. 

About the Author

David Graeber is an anthropology professor at the London School of Economics. He formerly taught at Yale University.

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