David Graeber on capitalism’s best kept secret
“Income and utility are inversely proportional”
Interview by Anne-Sophie Moreau
The author of the bestselling Bullshit Jobs debunks the myth of capitalist efficiency, by revealing why companies create and maintain hordes of useless jobs… As the confident of many a disillusioned employee, he got the hunch straight from the horse’s mouth. His findings are both funny at times — and frankly disconcerting.
How do you define “bullshit jobs”?
David Graeber: I have an entirely subjective definition of bullshit jobs: if workers feel that their job is pointless, that if it were to vanish, it would make no difference, or even the world might be a slightly better place, then it means that they are doing a bullshit job. It can be for various reasons: because they are doing nothing all day, or because they feel like their work doesn’t benefit the organization, or even because the entire company or industry is useless.
You’ve asked the employee, not the boss. Why?
Because they don’t know! The boss is the last person you’re going to tell if you’re just designing cat memes all day!
How many people have “bullshit jobs”?
