Bullshit Jobs

Ahile technological progress has always been seen as the horizon of a liberation from work, our modern society relies heavily on the alienation of the majority of office workers. Many are forced to dedicate their lives to unnecessary, uninteresting and meaningless tasks, while being fully aware of the superficiality of their contribution to society.

It is from this paradox that the concept of "bullshit jobs", as David Graeber calls them, was born and spread. In his unique, virulent and clear style, the author examines this phenomenon in detail. He argues that when 1 % of the population controls most of a society's wealth, they are the ones who define "useful" and "important" jobs.

But what about a society that, on the one hand, despises and underpays its nurses, bus drivers, gardeners or musicians - all professions that genuinely create value - and, on the other hand, maintains a whole class of business lawyers, actuaries, middle managers and other overpaid paper-pushers to perform unnecessary and even harmful tasks?

Graeber draws on the reflections of great thinkers, philosophers and scientists to determine the origin of this anomaly, both economic and social, and to detail its individual and political consequences: depression, anxiety and sado-masochistic labour relations are spreading; the collapse of self-esteem is like "a scar on our collective soul.

Its demonstration is punctuated by enlightening testimonials sent in by employees from all countries, stories that are in turn heart-wrenching, appalling or hilarious. There's the computer consultant who has none of the qualifications required for the job, but who gets promotion after promotion, even though he goes out of his way to get fired; the employee supervised by twenty-five middle managers, not one of whom responds to his requests; the German army sub-sub-contractor who drives 500 kilometres a week to go and sign a paper authorising a soldier to move his computer into the next room...

Graeber finally calls for a modern employee revolt and a vast reorganization of values, which would place creative and helping work at the heart of our culture and make technology a tool of liberation rather than enslavement, finally quenching our thirst for meaning and fulfillment.

Considered one of the most important thinkers of the beginning of this century, David Graeber returns five years later to analyse the notion of Bullshit Jobs or "Bullshit Job", which was born under his pen and has toured the world.