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I couldn't read the article because of the paywall. Judging by the quote, there are significant problems with this report. First, “a meaningful contribution to
by laserlight 5y ago
I couldn't read the article because of the paywall. Judging by the quote, there are significant problems with this report. First, “a meaningful contribution to the world” and “the feeling of doing useful work” are vastly different phrases. Comparing replies to them is meaningless. Second, the definition of a bullshit job is not if it makes “a meaningful contribution to the world”. Using replies to that phrase as the share of bullshit jobs is, therefore, wrong. A job is bullshit if the one who is doing it thinks it's bullshit according to Graeber.
- dukeyukey 5y ago> A job is bullshit if the one who is doing it thinks it's bullshit according to Graeber. Sounds reasonable. My understanding is that Graeber's work concentrates on what Marx described as "alienation of labour", where people are sufficiently specialised that they don't draw satisfaction from their work any more. Some of these bullshit jobs are probably actually useful, but if it makes the worker feel like this then it still has the same ruinous effect on them, and to a point, society. In this case, feelings can trump facts.