Bullshit Jobs
The book Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman introduced me to this concept.
So, what is a Bullshit job? It’s a job that exists to move money about. I also define it as a job that exists to keep hierarchical systems intact or support said systems.
So, that’s bankers, lawyers - property, civil, and criminal, politicians, hedge fund managers, office workers... the list goes on.
They are jobs that provide no actual value to the system. And they’re often paid more than jobs creating the actual value!
They create a sense of dissatisfaction in workers, who often feel (rightly) that they’re not doing much. Yet capitalism and hierarchy demand these jobs.
And yes, anarchy would kill jobs - but mainly these jobs. People close to me work or have worked in these jobs. One person works on green energy deals. Yes, this is a good step. But they shouldn’t have to work to move property and money around to implement these solutions that are ultimately stopgaps to the bigger problem of capitalism.
Abolish bullshit jobs. Get rid of the banks and private property. Smash the bureaucracy. Give power to the people with consensus and other democratic means of decision-making. Decriminalise victimless crimes and create community-based justice systems based on rehabilitation. Abolish the prisons.
Bullshit jobs are entirely a creation of capitalism. Destroy them.
