Bullshit Jobs cover art

Bullshit Jobs

A Theory

Preview
This Season's Biggest Deal

$0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus voucher

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 28 December, 2026.
More purchase options

Bullshit Jobs

By: David Graeber
Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
Get this deal

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 28 December, 2026. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $17.25

Buy Now for $17.25

This Season's Biggest Deal | $0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo. after 3 months - terms apply.
Summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, read by Christopher Ragland.

Be honest: if your job didn't exist, would anybody miss it? Have you ever wondered why not? Up to 40% of us secretly believe our jobs probably aren't necessary. In other words: they are bullshit jobs. This book shows why, and what we can do about it.
In the early twentieth century, people prophesied that technology would see us all working fifteen-hour weeks and driving flying cars. Instead, something curious happened. Not only have the flying cars not materialised, but average working hours have increased rather than decreased. And now, across the developed world, three-quarters of all jobs are in services, finance or admin: jobs that don't seem to contribute anything to society. In Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber explores how this phenomenon - one more associated with the Soviet Union, but which capitalism was supposed to eliminate - has happened. In doing so, he looks at how, rather than producing anything, work has become an end in itself; the way such work maintains the current broken system of finance capital; and, finally, how we can get out of it.
This book is for anyone whose heart has sunk at the sight of a whiteboard, who believes 'workshops' should only be for making things, or who just suspects that there might be a better way to run our world.


'Spectacular and terrifyingly true' Owen Jones
'Explosive' John McDonnell, New Statesman, Books of the Year
'Thought-provoking and funny' The Times

Anthropology Labor & Industrial Relations Politics & Government Sociology Workplace & Organisational Behaviour Workplace Culture Capitalism Socialism Taxation Business

Critic Reviews

Praise for The Democracy Project: 'Clear, pungent and right ... a compact and incisive account of why capitalism has run with such a smash into the buffers'
Graeber's talent is to take big concepts and unpack them, forcing us to examine their implications for society ... the book is a cool drink of water after so much dry, academic writing on the "revolutions" of 2011'
Captures the joys and fears of a movement
The most influential radical political thinker of the moment
All stars
Most relevant
“Bullshit jobs” insightfully exposes the proliferation of meaningless work in our modern workplaces and explains how we got here.

Meaningless employment

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Ever more so. Graeber’s contribution is original, hopeful, practical and engaging. Really loved every minute!

Poignant!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Sometimes the book deviated unnecessarily into philosophical or ideological/economic musings, especially at the end where the full anarcho communist colours were shown. Still worth it over all for the questioning of how useful a lot of the jobs you see around you and at corporate workplaces are.

Thought provoking, despite ideological digressions

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This was an eye opener, it has described to me exactly what I've thought for a long time, my bosses job is BS!

Listen, arm yourself with knowledge and understanding of just how badly our businesses are stuctured, and maybe call out a BS worker...?

Cuts through to some good arguments!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Light hearted, easy to follow, interesting content, this book does say important things about major problems our society is facing. I would recommend it. But the writing feels frustratingly one-sided: the author stresses the cases which support his argument, conspicuously avoids critical nuances, omits many factors which play against his pitch, and seems to label anyone who differs as naive, ignorant or overly particular, depending on how articulate they are. I did however enjoy the delight with which he seems to enjoy words like 'ramification', 'proliferation', and 'sundry'.

Worth a read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.