Praca Bez Sensu

Many people feel that their jobs could be accomplished in much less than 8 hours every day, but social and economic stigma forces us to spend needless time at work, which most would rather spend doing other things.

On top of that, some jobs that exist in current society can be considered outright malicious and exploitative, and as such society would benefit from these not being done.

The author presents various examples for both arguments supplemented by self reports from persons in different professions which corroborate that this is a shared feeling, and explore the different impacts such work arrangements have on people.

The explicit goal of the book is to highlight that our current economic system is very far from the rational ideal it sells itself as, and to point out the negative impacts this has on an individual and social level, to foster debate about the problem as a first step to addressing it.

While he does suggest Universal Basic Income could help solve some of these issues, he clearly states his goal is not to promote this or any other policy as a unique solution.

The core message and themes of 'Bullshit Jobs' are fascinating and thought provoking. Graeber criticises the flaws of modern capitalism, work culture, and consumerism in a very captivating way, incorporating many entertaining readers' testimonials throughout. The bulk of this however, mostly happens in the seventh and final chapter, following 245 pages of dragged out explanations for simple concepts, written in unnecessarily complex language. The testimonials were by far the most enjoyable part of the first six chapters, because they didn't require me to read paragraphs 3 times over to understand them. (I am not a native English speaker, but i do have C2 proficiency.) In my opinion, the page count of the first 6 chapters could easily be cut in half without losing any real substance, ironically somewhat mirroring one of the main points of criticism Graeber makes throughout his book:

"We could easily become societies of leisure and institute a twenty-hour workweek. Maybe even a fifteen-hour week. Instead, we find ourselves, as a society, condemned to spending most of our time at work, performing tasks that we feel make no difference in the world whatsoever."

Political and economic philosophy is a dangerous subject to write. Your words will have a natural target audience. Fail to properly shade your text to your audience and your book will end up in (large) piles in a discount book warehouse. Or, in the age of digital books, with a 7-digit rank in the overall store...

Fortunately for the readers of this book, Graeber's commentary is equally caustic towards the movement conservative, the country club liberal, and even the well-meaning but slightly sanctimonious social democrat. The central thread of this work, which builds on an earlier essay that he published, is that regardless of whether you speak of the public sector, the academy, or private industry, the desire to build fiefdoms and heirarchies in the workplace give rise to the proliferation of meaningless jobs that are as damaging to the mental health of their incumbents as they are wasteful.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a large portion of one chapter dealing with the phenomenon of people working in BS jobs in order to fund their passion. Graeber accurately, and with recourse to excerpts from several interviews, documents the difficulties with this lifestyle and the drain on creative energy it can cause.

Ce livre fait partie de ceux qui changent votre vision du monde ou qui corrigent ce que vous croyez savoir.
Le précédent livre m’ayant fait cet effet est « Tout sur l’économie (ou presque) ».

Avant de lire cet essai : * Je savais que des « jobs à la con » existaient, mais je pensais que c’était un peu anecdotique * Je croyais les « bullshit jobs » beaucoup plus répandus dans la fonction publique et les grosses administrations. * Je ne connaissais pas suffisamment les racines historiques, religieuses de la « valeur » ou des « valeurs » que l’on accorde au travail * Je croyais à la fable de l’efficience du capitalisme

Et bien cet essai : * S’appuie sur des témoignages pour illustrer son propos. Mais même une foule de témoignages n’est pas une preuve. Alors justement…
* Trouve des preuves de ce qu’il avance : oui les « bullshit jobs » existent et ne se cantonnent pas au « public » (au contraire !) * Casse le mythe dans le privé il y en a peu * Casse le mythe d’un capitalisme efficient * Plonge aux racines de la place, de la valeur, des valeurs que l’on associe au travail Depuis quand associe-t-on le travail à la pénibilité ? Qu’est-ce qui se cache derrière le fait de « vendre son temps ? » * Catégorise de façon pertinente les genres de « bullshit jobs » * fait le pont avec les décisions politiques * Quelles conséquences sur les individus coincés * et bien plus !

Alors évidemment on ne peut pas mesurer précisément le nombre de bullshit jobs car comment savoir qu’un poste apporte quelque chose à l’humanité ?
Il ouvre d’énormes pistes de réflexion : * Pourquoi travaillons-nous ? * Pourquoi garder les gens occupés à des tâches inutiles voir néfastes ?

Un livre indispensable alors que la voie « travailler pour consommer » nous aliène et nous conduit dans le mur.

Quelques citations

Votre emploi apporte-t-il quoi que ce soit d’important au monde ? », plus d’un tiers des personnes interrogées (37 %) ont dit être convaincues que ce n’était pas le cas (50 % ont répondu par l’affirmative et 13 % se sont déclarées indécises).

Un job à la con est une forme d’emploi rémunéré qui est si totalement inutile, superflue ou néfaste que même le salarié ne parvient pas à justifier son existence, bien qu’il se sente obligé, pour honorer les termes de son contrat, de faire croire qu’il n’en est rien.

En 2016, les employés de bureau américains n’auraient consacré aux activités qui constituent le cœur de leur travail que 39 % de leur temps, contre 46 % en 2015, et ce en raison d’un accroissement proportionnel du temps passé à traiter leurs e-mails (de 12 % en 2015 à 16 % en 2016), à assister à des réunions « inutiles » (de 8 % à 10 %) et à gérer la paperasse (de 9 % à 11 %).

Où et quand en est-on venu à considérer que le travail inutile était préférable à l’absence de travail ?

Le « fondement du statut social », comme le dit Harry Braverman, n’était « plus la capacité de fabriquer des choses, mais celle de les acheter

« Chaque matin, en nous levant, nous fabriquons collectivement un monde ; pourtant, lequel d’entre nous, s’il ne tenait qu’à lui, choisirait de fabriquer le monde que nous avons ? »

Autres avis

• Alias
• Ecoutez l'émission de France culture

I was not familiar with David Graeber or his work prior to buying this book, but it's an interesting premise so I wanted to give him a chance to make his case. He shares some very interesting research, some anecdotal evidence, and even some compelling history to bolster his case that we've spent the last 50 years on a trajectory to implement all of the perversities of capitalism that theory tells us should be impossible.

I don't think anyone can deny the existence of pointless jobs (especially those saddled with them), but I'm not completely convinced that they are inevitable when following the path that western society has chosen. Also, as a fellow anarchist, I'm a bit surprised by some of David's proposals and his ultimate conclusion. I'm not sure how an anarchist can justify the positions that David takes in this book. I would be interested to read a follow-up dissertation on that by itself.

In the end, the book is interesting and sheds light on a problem that as the author points out, not a lot of people are aware of, or are willing to admit exists. Worth reading.