“The bullshit-jobs thesis is largely bullshit,” reports The Economist in an article about a newly published empirical critique of late David Graeber’s book, which claims that more than half of societal work is pointless. Although Graeber’s thesis has been cited more than 800 times by academics, not to mention media, the data often show the exact opposite of what he claimed:
“In contrast to the high share of bullshit jobs reported by Mr. Graeber, in 2015 only 4.8% of respondents in the EU felt their work was useless. And this proportion had fallen, not risen, in recent years, from 5.5% in 2010 and 7.8% in 2005.”
Note: A more recommended reading would be Graeber’s older book Debt, or Hans Rosling’s Factfulness.
Share or discuss: LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter)
We monitor countless quality sources on freelancing and choose only the best content to save your time.
Subscribe to our monthly Freeletter with a curated selection of world-class freelance news and subscribers-only content + get our free PDF guide How to become an international freelancer right now as a new subscriber:
Your privacy matters: We won’t share your email address with anyone else and you can cancel your subscription anytime. Also, we do not store anyone’s IP address nor do we track who opens and reads our newsletter.