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In an interview, anthropologist David Graeber answers questions about the modern workplace and the purposeless jobs that fill it.
Not since Dilbert has truth been spoken to power in soulless work settings. But the cartoon character's successor may be David Graeber. In 2013 he achieved viral fame with cubicle zombies everywhere after he published a short essay on the prevalence of work that had no social or economic reason to exist, which he called "bullshit jobs". The wide attention seemed to confirm his thesis.
Mr Graeber, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, has expanded on the ideas in a recent book. He responded to five questions from The Economist's Open Future initiative. He rails against "feudal retinues of basically useless flunkies." As he puts it: "People want to feel they are transforming the world around them in a way that makes some kind a positive difference."
[...] One thing it shows is that the whole "lean and mean" ideal is applied much more to productive workers than to office cubicles. It's not at all uncommon for the same executives who pride themselves on downsizing and speed-ups on the shop floor, or in delivery and so forth, to use the money saved at least in part to fill their offices with feudal retinues of basically useless flunkies.
From The Economist : Bullshit jobs and the yoke of managerial feudalism
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @07:59AM (3 children)
> A major point was that, before Industrialism, people were paid for doing tasks, not by the hour.
Piecework (worker paid for each piece completed) was common in the early industrial revolution and there are still bits of this around. My grandmother sewed parachute harnesses in WWII and was paid by the piece. A friend has her own tiny company (just one helper) which specializes in sewing cargo harness for aircraft companies and I'm sure she is paid by the piece (or the lot--same thing except contracted amounts).
While tire manufacturing can now be automated, 10-20 years ago expert tire builders (assemble the different layers of rubber/cord/steel-belts on a building drum) were paid piece work in many US factories. May still be piecework in other parts of the world?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday July 02 2018, @08:42AM (2 children)
Paid "by piece":
custom furniture
custom cabinetry
custom (tailored) clothing
custom saddles
Whether a person runs a manufactory* of a few or many, or works on their own in a shed doesn't stop the payment/production model.
Scale and quality seem to be tied together, unless you go to something likeRolls Royce or Bentley or Aerospace parts.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 02 2018, @10:31AM (1 child)
Scale and efficiency are tied together, what you do with quality in the meantime is a management decision.
Accountability as a publicly traded company and management for short term profit seeking are tied together.
Short term profit seeking and quality are the ones that are inversely tied.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 02 2018, @11:55AM
tl;dr: Quick. Cheap. Good. Pick two.