Bullshit jobs - David Graeber

'Spectacular and terrifyingly true' Owen Jones
'Explosive' John McDonnell, New Statesman, Books of the Year
'Thought-provoking and funny' The Times

Be honest: if your job didn't exist, would anybody miss it? Have you
ever wondered why not? Up to 40% of us secretly believe our jobs
probably aren't necessary. In other words: they are bullshit jobs. This book shows why, and what we can do about it.

In
the early twentieth century, people prophesied that technology would
see us all working fifteen-hour weeks and driving flying cars. Instead,
something curious happened. Not only have the flying cars not
materialised, but average working hours have increased rather than
decreased. And now, across the developed world, three-quarters of all
jobs are in services, finance or admin: jobs that don't seem to
contribute anything to society. In Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber
explores how this phenomenon - one more associated with the Soviet
Union, but which capitalism was supposed to eliminate - has happened. In
doing so, he looks at how, rather than producing anything, work has
become an end in itself; the way such work maintains the current broken
system of finance capital; and, finally, how we can get out of it.

This
book is for anyone whose heart has sunk at the sight of a whiteboard,
who believes 'workshops' should only be for making things, or who just
suspects that there might be a better way to run our world.