Livre relié
Langue : German
Publié 8 octobre 2018 par Klett-Cotta Verlag.
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that argues the existence and societal harm of meaningless jobs. He contends that over half of societal work is pointless, which becomes psychologically destructive when paired with a work ethic that associates work with self-worth. Graeber describes five types of bullshit jobs, in which workers pretend their role isn't as pointless or harmful as they know it to be: flunkies, goons, duct tapers, box tickers, and taskmasters. He argues that the association of labor with virtuous suffering is recent in human history, and proposes universal basic income as a potential solution.
I was afraid that this was going to be a padded out version of his original essay, but I needn't have worried. Give Graeber 300 pages, and he'll give you ideas worth 600 of them. Coupled with his keen sense for observational comedy, and you get a book that's easy to read, keeps your attention, and highly entertaining.
I loved this book so much! I found it entertaining and inspiring, personally (yes, I don't want to be stuck in a bullshit job, I want to think about what it's valuable and why and try to do it; see [*]), politically (hell yes, this system is fucked up, and all the moralising about work is very convenient for some) as well as professionally (I want to write like this about non-bullshit research).
The theory in a nutshell is that a larger and larger proportion of jobs, and especially white-collar jobs, are bullshit because they contribute nothing to society: they don't even make companies richer, but are simply the product of apathia or vanity. On a larger scale, this has happened because we are no longer living in a classic capitalist system, where capitalists 'control the means of production', but rather in a neo-feudal system, where political and economic elites …
I loved this book so much! I found it entertaining and inspiring, personally (yes, I don't want to be stuck in a bullshit job, I want to think about what it's valuable and why and try to do it; see [*]), politically (hell yes, this system is fucked up, and all the moralising about work is very convenient for some) as well as professionally (I want to write like this about non-bullshit research).
The theory in a nutshell is that a larger and larger proportion of jobs, and especially white-collar jobs, are bullshit because they contribute nothing to society: they don't even make companies richer, but are simply the product of apathia or vanity. On a larger scale, this has happened because we are no longer living in a classic capitalist system, where capitalists 'control the means of production', but rather in a neo-feudal system, where political and economic elites coincide: people get richer by appropriating, distributing and controlling resources (i.e. politics in its classical definition), not by producing.
Detto che la valutazione a stelle richiede un enorme sforzo per me, perchè non riesco a immaginare un sistema minimamente coerente per assegnarle, vi spiego la valutazione di 4 stelle e mezza. Il libro sul tema ha soddisfatto tutte le mie aspettative, non ho trovato dei difetti che mi hanno impedito di promuoverlo a pieni voti, è solo che in qualche maniera devo avere modo di segnalare i capolavori che tolgono il respiro.
David Graeber fragt sich, warum in einer kapitalistischen Gesellschaft so viele Jobs entstehen können, die offenbar keinen Sinn ergeben, wirtschaftliche unnötig sind und die Menschen, die dort arbeiten müssen, unglücklich machen. Eine Antwort hat er eigentlich nicht. Das Buch ist dennoch eine sehr gute Auseinandersetzung mit der kapitalistischen Arbeitsgesellschaft. Einige Kapitel lang wird die sehr interessante und wichtige Frage erörtert, warum gesellschaftlich sinnvolle Tätigkeiten im Gegensatz zu unnützen oder schädlichen Tätigkeiten so schlecht bezahlt werden. Als Lösungsvorschlag präsentiert Graeber das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen. Naja, das war etwas einfallslos, aber gut. Warum nicht. Es lohnt sich auf jeden Fall, seine Denkanstöße weiterzudenken. Vielleicht fällt „uns“ ja noch was besseres ein.
This is an interesting read. It was interesting to me as someone aspiring to not have a job and close to making that happen. The look at "why have jobs?" and "why treat them as so sacred?" really hit home.
I have long said that this reverence for having a job is rooted in Puritanism. Recently I am wondering if it is more deeply internalized capitalist frames. Graeber's viewpoint is that it is some of both, which I found interesting.
This book was a good companion piece to Chokepoint Capitalism
Halfway between the humoristic and scientific publication, what started as a provocation ends up in building a theory that is in fact a (often humoristic, sometimes depressing) criticism to capitalistic system and the work culture that is embedded on it. A must-read.
