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Bullshit Job
A bullshit job or pseudowork is meaningless or unnecessary wage labour which the worker is obliged to pretend to have a purpose. Polling in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands indicates that around 40% of workers consider their job to fit this description. The concept was coined by anthropologist David Graeber in a 2013 essay in Strike Magazine, ''On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs'', and elaborated upon in his 2018 book ''Bullshit Jobs''. Graeber also formulated the concept of ''bullshitization'', where previously meaningful work turns into a bullshit job through corporatization, marketization or managerialism. This has been applied to academia, which Graeber and others contend has been bullshitized by the expansion of managerial roles and administrative work caused by neoliberal educational reforms, contributing to the erosion of academic freedom. __NOTOC__ See also * Boondoggle * Busywork * Critique of work * Dilbert principle * Emotional labour * Front organization * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Graeber
David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961September 2, 2020) was an American anthropologist and anarchist activist. His influential work in economic anthropology, particularly his books '' Debt: The First 5,000 Years'' (2011) and ''Bullshit Jobs'' (2018), and his leading role in the Occupy movement, earned him recognition as one of the foremost anthropologists and left-wing thinkers of his time. Born in New York to a working-class Jewish family, Graeber studied at Purchase College and the University of Chicago, where he conducted ethnographic research in Madagascar under Marshall Sahlins and obtained his doctorate in 1996. He was an assistant professor at Yale University from 1998 to 2005, when the university controversially decided not to renew his contract before he was eligible for tenure. Unable to secure another position in the United States, he entered an "academic exile" in England, where he was a lecturer and reader at Goldsmiths' College from 2008 to 2013, and a profe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bullshit Jobs
''Bullshit Jobs: A Theory'' is a 2018 book by anthropologist David Graeber that postulates the existence of meaningless jobs and analyzes their societal harm. He contends that over half of societal work is pointless, and becomes psychologically destructive when paired with a work ethic that associates work with self-worth. Graeber describes five types of meaningless jobs, in which workers pretend their role is not as pointless or harmful as they know it to be: flunkies, goons, duct tapers, box tickers, and taskmasters. He argues that the association of labor with virtuous suffering is recent in human history, and proposes unions and universal basic income as a potential solution. The book is an extension of a popular essay Graeber published in 2013, which was later translated into 12 languages and whose underlying premise became the subject of a YouGov poll. Graeber subsequently solicited hundreds of testimonials from people with meaningless jobs and revised his case into a bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wage Labour
Wage labour (also wage labor in American English), usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labour, refers to the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labour power under a formal or informal employment contract. These transactions usually occur in a labour market where wages or salaries are market-determined. In exchange for the money paid as wages (usual for short-term work-contracts) or salaries (in permanent employment contracts), the work product generally becomes the undifferentiated property of the employer. A wage labourer is a person whose primary means of income is from the selling of their labour in this way. Characteristics In modern mixed economies such as those of the OECD countries, it is currently the most common form of work arrangement. Although most labour is organised as per this structure, the wage work arrangements of CEOs, professional employees, and professional contract wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Critique Of Work
Critique of work or critique of labour is the critique of, and wish to abolish, work ''as such'', and to critique what the critics of works deem wage slavery. Critique of work can be existential, and focus on how labour can be and/or feel meaningless, and stands in the way for self-realisation. But the critique of work can also highlight how excessive work may harm the productivity of society, or society itself. The critique of work can also take on a more utilitarian character in which work simply stands in the way for human happiness as well as health. History Many thinkers have critiqued and wished for the abolishment of labour as early as in Ancient Greece.Cross. G. social research,Vol 72:No 2: Summer 2005 An example of an opposing view is the anonymously published treatise titled ''Essay on Trade and Commerce'' published in 1770 which claimed that to break the spirit of idleness and independence of the English people, ideal "work-houses" should imprison the poor. These hous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vacuum Activity
Vacuum activities (or vacuum behaviours) are innate, fixed action patterns (FAPs) of animal behaviour that are performed in the absence of a sign stimulus ( releaser) that normally elicit them. This type of abnormal behaviour shows that a key stimulus is not always needed to produce an activity. Vacuum activities often take place when an animal is placed in captivity and is subjected to a lack of stimuli that would normally cause a FAP. Etymology From Latin vacuum (''an empty space, void'') noun use of neuter of ''vacuus'' (''empty'') related to ''vacare'' (''be empty''). History The term was first established by the ethologist Konrad Lorenz in the 1930s after observations of a hand-raised starling. In 1937 Lorenz wrote: ''"With head and eyes the bird made a motion as though following a flying insect with its gaze; its posture tautened; it took off, snapped, returned to its perch, and with its bill performed the sideways lashing, tossing motions with which many insectivorous bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underemployment
Underemployment is the underuse of a worker because a job does not use the worker's skills, is part-time, or leaves the worker idle. Examples include holding a part-time job despite desiring full-time work, and overqualification, in which the employee has education, experience, or skills beyond the requirements of the job. Underemployment has been studied from a variety of perspectives, including economics, management, psychology, and sociology. In economics, for example, the term underemployment has three different distinct meanings and applications. All of the meanings involve a situation in which a person is working, unlike unemployment, where a person who is searching for work cannot find a job. All meanings involve under-utilization of labor which is missed by most official (governmental agency) definitions and measurements of unemployment. In economics, underemployment can refer to: # "Overqualification", or "overeducation", or the employment of workers with high education ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinecure
A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval church, where it signified a post without any responsibility for the " cure areof souls", the regular liturgical and pastoral functions of a cleric, but came to be applied to any post, secular or ecclesiastical, that involved little or no actual work. Sinecures have historically provided a potent tool for governments or monarchs to distribute patronage, while recipients are able to store up titles and easy salaries. A sinecure can also be given to an individual whose primary job is in another office, but requires a sinecure title to perform that job. For example, the Government House Leader in Canada is often given a sinecure ministry position so that they may become a member of the Cabinet. Similar examples are the Lord Keeper of the Privy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Refusal Of Work
Refusal of work is behavior in which a person refuses regular employment."Refusal of work means quite simply: I don't want to go to work because I prefer to sleep. But this laziness is the source of intelligence, of technology, of progress. Autonomy is the self-regulation of the social body in its independence and in its interaction with the disciplinary norm"What is the Meaning of Autonomy Today?" by Bifo As actual behavior, with or without a political or philosophical program, it has been practiced by various subcultures and individuals. It is frequently engaged in by those who critique the concept of work, and it has a long history. Radical political positions have openly advocated refusal of work. From within Marxism it has been advocated by Paul Lafargue and the Italian workerist/autonomists (e.g. Antonio Negri, Mario Tronti), the French ultra-left (e.g. Échanges et Mouvement); and within anarchism (especially Bob Black and the post-left anarchy tendency). Abolition of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presenteeism
Presenteeism or working while sick is the act or culture of employees continuing to work as a performative measure, despite having reduced productivity levels or negative consequences. Reduced productivity during presenteeism is often due to illness, injury, exhaustion, or other conditions, but presenteeism can also describe working while contagiously sick, which has the added risk of creating a workplace epidemic. Many different motives can lead to presenteeism.Johns, G. (2010): Presenteeism in the Workplace: A review and research agenda. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 519-542. An employee may come to work because they simply need the money and cannot afford to take time off due to illness. Doctors may attend work while sick due to feelings of being irreplaceable. Additionally, one could go to work due to a love and devotion to the job; in this case, it could be considered an act of organizational citizenship and inspire admiration from colleagues. Other reasons include f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On Bullshit
''On Bullshit'' is a 2005 book (originally a 1986 essay) by American philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt which presents a theory of bullshit that defines the concept and analyzes the applications of bullshit in the context of communication. Frankfurt determines that bullshit is speech intended to persuade without regard for truth. The liar cares about the truth and attempts to hide it; the bullshitter doesn't care if what they say is true or false, but cares only whether the listener is persuaded.''On Bullshit'' (2005), by Harry Frankfurt. p. 61. Frankfurt's philosophical analysis of bullshit has been analyzed, criticized and adopted by academics since its publication. History Frankfurt originally published the essay "On Bullshit" in the '' Raritan Quarterly Review'' journal in 1986. Nineteen years later, the essay was published as the book ''On Bullshit'' (2005), which proved popular among lay readers; the book appeared for 27 weeks on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Make-work Job
A make-work job is a job that has less immediate financial or little benefit at all to the economy than the job costs to support. It may also have no benefit. Make-work jobs are similar to workfare, but are publicly offered on the job market and have otherwise normal employment requirements (workfare jobs, in contrast, may be handed out to a randomly selected applicant or have special requirements such as continuing to search for a non-workfare job). Analysis Some consider make-work jobs to be harmful when they provide very little practical experience or training for future careers. As a part of the New Deal, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) was in 1933 created as a stopgap measure to boost the economic relief provided by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Public Works Administration. At its peak, the CWA employed 4,230,000 people; however, President Roosevelt was wary of the specter of corruption and accusations of boondoggling, and shut the CWA down after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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