Bullshit Jobs: A Theory

David Graeber

My rating: 4.02/5

David Graeber wrote this book after his very famous essay by the same name. It draws on several anecdotes and responses he received after writing the essay. However, a peculiar thing to note is that despite being an anthropologist from Oxford, this is not based on original research but one could note that some research is cited to support the assertions made in the book. The first few chapters are very useful in understanding the time of useless jobs that can exist in the industry, especially private industry, how to identify one, hidden unemployment ( several parties doing the work of one person), etc. The latter chapters delve into mindsets, socio-political frameworks and modern economic thinking that backs the development and sustenance of bullshit jobs. There is a fair amount of repetition and a number of references to the essay that one should be wary of. This book could be much smaller and condensed.