Bullsh!t jobs

[secundem_artem]

Is yours a bullsh!t job?  Read below and see.

https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/

[downer]

To philosophize a bit: doesn't this assume that the fundamental role of the university is not bullshit? And that contemporary western societies are not largely replicators of bullshit?

I find meaning in loving relationships, intense experiences, personal challenges, communing with nature, and thinking about stuff. Then there is passing my time with entertainment. Since I'm not a hermit, I have to participate in some of the things that society values, but I do so without taking them seriously. I'm not convinced that most university education is particularly intrincially useful to anyone, but it creates employment. Unfortunately, it also creates massive student debt too. That's a problem.

So when the author writes "How can one even begin to speak of dignity in labour when one secretly feels one's job should not exist?" I think the answer is: it is quite easy. You take the cash. You focus on what you like doing. If you like, you can contribute to efforts to make society less ridiculous and unfair. I don't see why you need to have to have a profound sense of alienation though. Have a laugh.

[Anselm]

I have the book.  Even though it is fascinating to read I have never personally known someone with a BS job that fits his definition. 

[Parasaurolophus]

Mine doesn't technically fit the bill, but I think it is a BS job anyway. Because I'm clearly a cog in the wheel that exploits our under-prepared international students while leaving them entirely under-served. I do what I can and treat it like I would its non-BS counterpart, but there's a lot about it that doesn't feel very good and leaves me feeling like I'm just going through the motions for a paycheque.

[marshwiggle]

I think the whole premise of the article is flawed.

In the year 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, by century's end, technology would have advanced sufficiently that countries like Great Britain or the United States would have achieved a 15-hour work week.

In the '50's, my parents built their own house. It was about 900 square feet, for 6 people. They had one black and white TV to watch broadcast (i.e. free) television. There was one phone line for the entire household. And it was a party line at that. (Younger people can look that up if it doesn't mean anything.) They had one car; a Volkswagen Beetle.

Right now, my house is about 3x the size of my parents' house, for half as many people. We have two cars, both much bigger than the Beetle, and we have 2 phone lines for the house, as well as cell phone plans for each member of the household. We have high speed Internet and streaming television.

If we chose to live like my parents did, we could probably do it on 15 hours of work per week. Our voracious appetite for comfort and convenience is what fuels the economy. BS jobs exist because we all have things we hate to have to do, and so if we can find someone willing to do them for an amount we are wiling to pay, then we'll do it. Does that make it a BS job? Why? We get it done and someone else gets an income.

The only BS job is one you stay in when you're unhappy but unwilling to seriously examine alternatives.

[mamselle]

So, where's the choice for independent scholars, adjuncts, and other positions?

I'm not a small nail holding a great girder through blue nights into white stars, but I value my work and I believe from the feedback I get that it's valued in its own sphere.

Just a thought..

M.

[quasihumanist]

I say that I teach a third of my students, babysit a third of my students, and fail a third of my students.

[dismalist]

I think the whole premise of the article is flawed.

In the year 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, by century's end, technology would have advanced sufficiently that countries like Great Britain or the United States would have achieved a 15-hour work week.

In the '50's, my parents built their own house. It was about 900 square feet, for 6 people. They had one black and white TV to watch broadcast (i.e. free) television. There was one phone line for the entire household. And it was a party line at that. (Younger people can look that up if it doesn't mean anything.) They had one car; a Volkswagen Beetle.

Right now, my house is about 3x the size of my parents' house, for half as many people. We have two cars, both much bigger than the Beetle, and we have 2 phone lines for the house, as well as cell phone plans for each member of the household. We have high speed Internet and streaming television.

If we chose to live like my parents did, we could probably do it on 15 hours of work per week. Our voracious appetite for comfort and convenience is what fuels the economy. BS jobs exist because we all have things we hate to have to do, and so if we can find someone willing to do them for an amount we are wiling to pay, then we'll do it. Does that make it a BS job? Why? We get it done and someone else gets an income.

The only BS job is one you stay in when you're unhappy but unwilling to seriously examine alternatives.

Absolutely, Marsh!

But it gets worse, much worse. Thinking of bullshit jobs, college administration comes to mind. Why so much? Government mandated in the US. Lawyers? Why so many? Contingent fees in the US mandated by state and federal governments. I could go on.

This stuff will differ across countries, with some adding bad stuff. It's hard work to figure it all out in detail. Not a bullshit job; therefore, not for journalists or activists.

[marshwiggle]

So, where's the choice for independent scholars, adjuncts, and other positions?

I'm assuming this is a response to me. If not, I apologize.

A person can always be a scholar, artist, musician, etc., whether or not anyone will pay them to do it. The whole premise of the article seems to be that lots of people are in unfulfilling jobs, rather than being able to live off being creative.

I don't imagine anyone enjoys maintaining my sewage system. I wouldn't like to live in a dwelling that I am capable of building from scratch on my own, with only the infrastructure I can create myself. That would essentially be cave-dwelling, if I could find a cave. In order to have things like elctricity, running water, etc., we need tons of infrastructure, including things like sewage which necessitates someone doing unpleasant maintenance tasks. (I suppose, along that line, that mucking out stalls on a farm would literally be a BS job.) No-one is guaranteed a fun job. The goal people should have is to try and find something that they can live with, which pays enough for them to have a fulfilling life outside their work. And any job that fills that requirement would not be, in my opinion, a BS job; it would be a job to pay the rent so that the more important elements of life (relationships, personal development, etc.) can happen outside.

[Wahoo Redux]

All jobs are bullsh!t.

That's why they have to pay us to do them.

My trainer in the big company could not comprehend my quip that none of the money we processed every day actually existed, it was all simply numbers in a database. Grades are exactly the same thing, if you think about them.

There's also that great line from The Wire: "We used to make things in this country.  Now we just stick our hands in the other guy's pocket."

[pepsi_alum]

The biggest bullshit job at my last university: Director of Assessment.

Enough said.

[mahagonny]

There's a very simple way to ascertain that my job definitely is not bullshit. The department chair acts like he's threatening us by saying "the provost doesn't believe we really need your work here, but we insist that your work is important. We make him understand -- almost. At least for now!!!...(sigh)." 
Both these crumbums are working together, of course.

[writingprof]

All jobs are bullsh!t.

I don't know. Subsistence farmer doesn't sound like a bullshit job. Happily, many more of us will have that profession if the Left continues to rack up the wins.

Also, why is the entire article we're all discussing in bolded font? Does someone have the bullshit job of making digital prose unreadable?

[marshwiggle]

All jobs are bullsh!t.

I don't know. Subsistence farmer doesn't sound like a bullshit job. Happily, many more of us will have that profession if the Left continues to rack up the wins.

Also, why is the entire article we're all discussing in bolded font? Does someone have the bullshit job of making digital prose unreadable?

Well, it is the STRIKE! website, and the STRIKE! icon scrolls with the page, to give it that comic-book Every-sentence-ends-with-an-explanation-point vibe.

What to do when deep down you know your arguments themselves don't really have a lot to recommend them. SHOUT!!!!!!

[Treehugger]

I loved this article. This is exactly why I quit academia and stopped working at 47. I gradually realized that my job was a BS job and always would be (and I no longer needed the $$$). You wouldn't believe the pushback I got on this decision. But what are you going to do with your time? But you're wasting your degree! But you would be happier if you were at least an adjunct. You need to do something! As if nothing counts unless you are paid at least a token salary.

I am 56 now and have never regretted my decision.