The concept of bullshit jobs was not invented by Graeber. Instead, it was first popularized in 2007 by Stanley Bing (pen name of publicist Gil Schwartz) in his book "100 Bullshit Jobs...And How to Get Them".
http://www.amazon.com/100-Bullshit-Jobs-How-Them/dp/0060734809/ref=sr_1_1?s= books <http://www.amazon.com/100-Bullshit-Jobs-How-Them/dp/0060734809/ref=sr_1_1?s =books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377539207&sr=1-1&keywords=bullshit+jobs> &ie=UTF8&qid=1377539207&sr=1-1&keywords=bullshit+jobs Bing included being an economist as a "bullshit job". I think David Graeber's stated thesis is wrong, being based on a superficial understanding of the division of labour. Of course there are always jobs of dubious merit. As Marx already noted, there was no agreement among the political economists about what "productive labour" really was. I am not aware that David Graeber, though he reads and writes a lot, ever had any real job of significant duration (his CV cites none), so really it is difficult to regard him as an authority on this topic. But his title is certainly catchy. On the positive side, Graeber now seems to be making a contribution to the discussion about "lovely jobs and lousy jobs" (see e.g. Chrystia Freeland, "The rise of "lovely" and "lousy" jobs". Reuters, 12 April 2012). J.
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
