Paul Adams

the story of a lonely young woman’s desire to hibernate from the world in the hope of finding solutions to her existential problems.

modern society and global capitalism has come to create bullshit jobs that deny people having meaningful preoccupations in life

bullshit jobs that are spiritually and morally corrosive.

if people are denied meaningful jobs that enable them to somehow contribute something to the world, they become mad or deeply miserable

Bullshit jobs are jobs that have no real usefulness except to justify careers

These positions won’t be missed if they suddenly disappear in the workplace

The book is a continuation of Graeber’s other writings which explore global capitalism’s transformation into the present system where inequality and bullshit jobs prevail.

“Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world?”

bullshit work today is a relatively new phenomenon in history and is not set in stone

To further define and explain what bullshit jobs are, Graeber identifies five kinds of it. First are the Flunkies, people whose work make others seem important. This includes secretaries, receptionists and all sorts of assistants. Second are the Duct Tapers who fill in the gaps so company owners don’t have to fix the flaws in their system. Third are the Box Tickers who make or fill reports. Fourth are the Taskmasters who assign worthless jobs, like welfare agents. Fifth are the Flak catchers who serve their purpose by receiving complaints from customers but are powerless to solve them