A bullshit job or pseudowork[1] is meaningless or unnecessary wage labour which the worker is obliged to pretend to have a purpose.[2] Polling in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands indicates that around 40% of workers consider their job to fit this description.[3]
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.[3]
Graeber also formulated the concept of bullshitization, where previously meaningful work turns into a bullshit job through corporatization, marketization or managerialism.[4] 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,[5][6][7] contributing to the erosion of academic freedom.[8]
See also
References
Further reading
- Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit by Laura Penny
External links
- On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs, Strike Magazine (August 2013)