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On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber.
In the year 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that technology would have advanced sufficiently by century's end that countries like Great Britain or the United States would achieve a 15-hour work week. There's every reason to believe he was right. In technological terms, we are quite capable of this. And yet it didn't happen. Instead, technology has been marshalled, if anything, to figure out ways to make us all work more. In order to achieve this, jobs have had to be created that are, effectively, pointless. Huge swathes of people, in Europe and North America in particular, spend their entire working lives performing tasks they secretly believe do not really need to be performed. The moral and spiritual damage that comes from this situation is profound. It is a scar across our collective soul. Yet virtually no one talks about it.
Why did Keynes' promised utopia – still being eagerly awaited in the '60s – never materialise? The standard line today is that he didn't figure in the massive increase in consumerism. Given the choice between less hours and more toys and pleasures, we've collectively chosen the latter. This presents a nice morality tale, but even a moment's reflection shows it can't really be true. Yes, we have witnessed the creation of an endless variety of new jobs and industries since the '20s, but very few have anything to do with the production and distribution of sushi, iPhones, or fancy sneakers.
[...] And these numbers do not even reflect on all those people whose job is to provide administrative, technical, or security support for these industries, or for that matter the whole host of ancillary industries (dog-washers, all-night pizza deliverymen) that only exist because everyone else is spending so much of their time working in all the other ones. These are what I propose to call "bullshit jobs."
It's as if someone were out there making up pointless jobs just for the sake of keeping us all working. And here, precisely, lies the mystery. In capitalism, this is exactly what is not supposed to happen.
http://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/
David Graeber is a Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics.
Ed Note: Link to John Maynard Keynes was NOT in the original article.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday October 03 2016, @10:14PM
I'm certainly not. Even if I had a 15 hour work week with a Living Wage, I would NOT be washing my own dog. Mainly, because that is a misnomer and the service includes hair cutting, nail cutting, and pressing anal juices out of their asses (not making that up). If I have a good job, why would I object to paying another person to help me take care of my dog? Are dog "doctors" a bullshit made up job?
All-night pizza deliverymen. Completely lost me on that one since it seems to be making a moral declaration about how we should leave our houses and walk 5 miles at 1am for that pizza while already baked off our asses on the couch. Pizza delivery only exists because we're too lazy and overworked to walk?
If I spend my time working hard, I don't need somebody telling me how I should and shouldn't be spending my money.
It's an interesting idea of bullshit jobs, but he didn't list any examples ;)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 03 2016, @11:55PM
Exactly. There are no bullshit jobs except the ones created simply to keep people employed; Keynesian jobs. If you're working in today's America and not working for the government it's because someone finds very real value in paying you to do so.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.