GC:OPINION Have you got a b*ll shit job? Writing this at the start of January, I am sitting here watching all our good intentions both professionally and personally slowly wash away, before the cold realization that this year will probably be the same as last.
being loosely translated as a workers council, having a tendency to drive for full employment. It was quite common for factory managers to hire people for such roles as counting endless inventories of nuts and bolts within the factory to promote full employment.
If you are unhappy in your job and quite possibly find it a pointless existence, then don’t worry you are not alone, in fact you are probably correct as your job is most probably a pointless waste of time according to leading academics.
In modern parlance, the BS jobs I witnessed first hand using Graebers definition I recalled a visit to Shanghai a couple of years back. I was amazed at the amount of people who were involved in making me a cup of tea when I visited the usual generic western super brand coffee shop.
In the spirit of self actualisation and getting you to take action, GC discovered the work of the late anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber, who came up with the concept of ‘Bullshit Jobs’. Graeber argued that the modern work environment is riven with BS jobs, in something which was only supposed to be a phenomena of the former Soviet Union and bloated government bureaucracies,it is also a common feature within modern capitalist organizations. In the last century service sector jobs have become the dominant sector of employment within the west. Graeber uses this classification in a very broad definition that stretches from call center employees to CEO’s. It is no longer just classified thinly as people who serve you in a bar or restaurant.
I was curious to know how it takes two people in Cyprus to carry out this operation (order taker and maker / person to spell my one syllable name wrong) to what seemed like people queuing up to carry out this elaborate dance to combine hot water, a tea bag and milk. My first thoughts were that the over employment was probably to keep the populace happy and limiting the chance of overturning the system, however it could have just been in Graebers terms an organization riven with BS jobs and that’s just the way it is. In Graebers publication he outlined the BS jobs into five broad categories.
The irony that Graeber notes of BS jobs is that it is the reverse of what we are told capitalism should be. If we use its definition in a classical sense, any organization in the capitalist system has weeded inefficiencies and operates a streamlined no waste operation. The actual truth is most organizations have many inefficiencies in them ranging from decision making and the actual day to day activities within.
The Flunkies
Graeber states that the Soviet Union was built on the idea of ‘noble’ labor. With the word Soviet
People who work to maintain the status quo of a problem that could easily be fixed permanently. They may not have the ability or will to remedy the situation. This is highlighted in such roles as an inventory manager in a warehouse, which in theory could be done automatically.
Typically doorman receptionists and chauffeurs. They exist to make other people feel better about themselves. This role could easily be replaced by some form of technology.
The Duct tapers.
The Box Tickers Army of endless drones that operate to make a company look legitimate. Such as making an inhouse magazine which makes stories about key executives (yikes) or a cultural coordinator. This is done using
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