On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (366ES) — Atlas of Places

I think we can conclude that from these jobs, students learn at least five things: 1. how to operate under others’ direct supervision; 2. how to pretend to work even when nothing needs to done; 3. that one is not paid money to do things, however useful or important, that one actually enjoys; 4. that one is paid money to do things that are in no way

Those who work bullshit jobs are often surrounded by honor and prestige; they are respected as professionals, well paid, and treated as high achievers—as the sort of people who can be justly proud of what they do. Yet secretly they are aware that they have achieved nothing; they feel they have done nothing to earn the consumer toys with which they

This is a profound psychological violence here. How can one even begin to speak of dignity in labor when one secretly feels one’s job should not exist? How can it not create a sense of deep rage and resentment? Yet it is the peculiar genius of our society that its rulers have figured out a way, as in the case of the fish fryers, to ensure that rage

We have created societies where much of the population, trapped in useless employment, have come to resent and despise equally those who do the most useful work in society, and those who do no paid work at all.