Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
The workers eventually—inevitably—fought back against this grim situation. They pushed for reform legislation, like the Fair Labor Standards Act (passed by the US Congress in 1938), which fixed forty hours as the standard workweek, limiting the fraction of the day that could be snared in monotonous effort without extra pay. They also formed labor u
... See moreCal Newport • Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
The freedom-of-time approach sounds right to us, because we think of time as money, which is to say, a fungible resource. Anything that gets in the way of our freely allocating our time doesn’t just get on our nerves; it prevents us from coming up with the most efficient way of using our time. In the language of the marketplace, it’s irrational.
Judith Shulevitz • The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time
In fact, most of the economic innovations of the last thirty years make more sense politically than economically. Eliminating guaranteed life employment for precarious contracts doesn’t re- ally create a more effective workforce, but it is extraordinarily effective in destroying unions and otherwise depoliticizing labor. The same can be said of end... See more
David Graeber • A practical utopians guide to the coming collapse – David Graeber
C’est par cette fonction de discipline politique que David Graeber explique la prolifération des bullshit jobs. Pourquoi payer des gens à brasser de l’air ? Pour les occuper et contrôler leur temps de vie. Il vaut mieux qu’ils écrivent des rapports jamais lus ou produisent des biens destinés à être jetés plutôt que de vaquer à des occupations qu’il
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