Bullshit Jobs
David Graeber · 2018
Anthropologist David Graeber argues that a huge share of modern jobs are secretly pointless even to the people doing them, and shows how to recognize meaningless work, understand why it makes us miserable, and rethink what we actually want from our careers.
Provocatively dissects pointless modern jobs and pushes readers to question the meaning of their work.
Two of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of Bullshit Jobs pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first two.
- Use Graeber's test: if your role vanished overnight and nobody (including your customers) would notice or be worse off, it may be a bullshit job. Naming it honestly is the first step to changing it.
- Diagnose your role against the five types: flunkies (exist to make a boss look important), goons (paid to push or out-maneuver other goons), duct tapers (patch problems that should be fixed at the source), box tickers (produce paperwork that simulates action), and taskmasters (invent work for others).
The other 5 — and the full 8-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 8 chapters
The whole summary runs about 8 minutes, read or listened to.
- From a Viral Essay to a Theory of Pointless Work
- What Counts as a Bullshit Job (and What Doesn't)
- The Five Species: Flunkies, Goons, Duct Tapers, Box Tickers, Taskmasters
- Why Meaningless Work Makes Us Miserable
- The Tyranny of Looking Busy
- Managerial Feudalism: Why Pointless Jobs Multiply
- The Work Ethic Trap: Why We Moralize About Jobs
- Rethinking Value - and the Case for Basic Income
Finish Bullshit Jobs tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 8 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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