Bullshit Jobs
Bullshit Jobs is a concept developed by anthropologist David Graeber describing employment that the workers themselves believe serves no purpose. The phenomenon is central to the Economic Rebalancing framework of the Sanctuary Protocol.
Definition
A bullshit job is:
"A form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case."
— David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (2018)
Identifying Characteristics
Signs of a bullshit job:
- You could disappear for a week and no one would notice
- You can't explain what you do to a child
- Your main output is meetings, emails, and reports read by no one
- The role exists to justify someone else's headcount
- You spend significant time pretending to work
- Elimination of your role would have no negative effect
Graeber's Taxonomy
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Flunkies | Exist to make someone else look or feel important | Receptionists for executives who have no visitors, doormen at buildings with automatic doors |
| Goons | Roles that exist only because competitors have them | Corporate lawyers in battles that create no value, PR specialists engaged in company vs. company spin |
| Duct Tapers | Fix problems that shouldn't exist | Data entry clerks manually transferring information between incompatible systems |
| Box Tickers | Create documentation that justifies existence | Compliance officers filling out forms no one reads, quality assurance for already-quality work |
| Taskmasters | Create and assign work to others | Middle managers whose only function is assigning tasks that workers could assign themselves |
Scale of the Problem
Graeber's research found that 37-50% of workers surveyed believed their jobs were meaningless.
The COVID-19 lockdowns inadvertently tested this: when most work stopped, essential services continued. The economy survived because meaningful work continued. The bullshit jobs were overhead cost, not productive input.
What Was Essential
- Healthcare
- Food production and distribution
- Infrastructure maintenance
- Sanitation and waste management
- Childcare and education
- Emergency services
- Logistics and delivery
What Wasn't
- Most management consulting
- Most marketing and advertising
- Most financial services intermediation
- Most administrative overhead
- Most political activity
Economic Paradox
The existence of bullshit jobs contradicts classical economic theory, which predicts that competitive markets would eliminate wasteful employment.
Why They Persist
Managerial feudalism: Senior positions accumulate headcount as status symbols. More subordinates = more power, regardless of output.
Complexity cover: Organizations become too complex to evaluate job necessity. It's easier to keep everyone than risk eliminating something important.
Employment as social policy: Governments implicitly prefer bullshit employment to unemployment, even when unemployment plus basic income might cost less.
Credential inflation: As credentials proliferate, organizations hire more people to verify credentials, creating circular employment.
Psychological Effects
Bullshit jobs cause measurable harm:
- Depression and anxiety
- Loss of meaning and purpose
- Resentment toward genuinely productive workers
- Cognitive dissonance from pretending work matters
- Spiritual violence from selling time for meaningless activity
Graeber argued this was a form of "spiritual violence" — forcing people to pretend their work matters when they know it doesn't.
The Time Restoration Alternative
The Economic Rebalancing framework proposes:
If 50% of work is unnecessary, halve the work week. Not through unemployment, but through redistribution.
Everyone works less. Everyone gains time.
| Current Model | Restored Model |
|---|---|
| 40-60 hour work weeks for some, unemployment for others | 20-30 hour work weeks for everyone |
| Bullshit jobs create busy-work | Bullshit jobs eliminated |
| Meaningful work concentrated | Meaningful work shared |
| Care work unpaid | Care work recognized |
Implications for OMXUS
The Sanctuary Protocol applies bullshit job analysis to governance:
Eliminate Administrative Bullshit
Many government roles exist to manage compliance with rules that shouldn't exist. Prevention-based approaches eliminate the need for much enforcement bureaucracy.
Recognize Care Work
While bullshit jobs produce nothing, care work produces the healthy humans the economy depends on. Shifting from bullshit to care isn't a loss—it's a reallocation to genuine value.
Redefine Work
Work isn't just employment. It includes:
- Productive work: Creates necessary goods and services
- Care work: Maintains human beings
- Dignity work: Provides meaning, structure, and contribution
All three are valid. All three deserve support.
See Also
References
- Graeber, David. (2018). Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. Simon & Schuster.
- Graeber, David. (2013). "On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs." Strike! Magazine.
- YouGov polling on job meaningfulness (2015, 2018).