this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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I came here to recommend Bullshit Jobs, Debt by contrast I found too sweeping / less convincing (and in any case a much bigger ask for the reader)
I felt like I already knew pretty much everything Bullshit Jobs was going to say before it said it. Debt had some new ideas for me. I think your background matters a lot.
The essay is worthy on its own but the collected anecdotes and insights in the book are definitely worthwhile, especially for newcomers/non-leftists who may not have any opinions about say the history of economics but do almost certainly have some experience of a stupid or useless job. There's a tangible, easy to grasp contradiction in the alleged efficiency of our economic system vs the increased proliferation of these jobs that helps to keep the book persuasive from the jump. I think it's also helped by positing itself as "a theory" rather than a definitive history, something I had trouble swallowing w/r/t Debt.
Debt I think is good if you've already bought into being anticapitalist. That said, it did hit me harder having dropped acid and getting through the middle portion of the book