Why did Keynes’ promised utopia – still being eagerly awaited in the ‘60s – never materialise? The standard line today is that he didn’t figure in the massive increase in consumerism. Given the choice between less hours and more toys and pleasures, we’ve collectively chosen the latter. This presents a nice morality tale, but even a moment’s reflection shows it can’t really be true. Yes, we have witnessed the creation of an endless variety of new jobs and industries since the ‘20s, but very few have anything to do with the production and distribution of sushi, iPhones, or fancy sneakers.
from "On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs" by David Graeber
Graeber discounts consumerism as the reason we work so much, with the proof being that very few of the jobs we've created have to do with producing products, the purchase of which we might consider typical examples of consumerism.
I don't purport to know the right answer here, but I also don't see how you can mention consumerism on one hand, and fail to see that if the consumerist theory is close to reality, then all of the jobs we've created would be for the purpose of obtaining those products, not for the purpose of building them.
Nevertheless, it was an interesting read, so you might check it out.
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That was an interesting read. I'm with you though, I think the whole point is that the consumers are working to buy not working to produce. Regardless, thanks for the share!
Posted by
Alexis
on Nov 24, 2013 at 09:20 PM UTC - 5 hrs
