Millions Of People Have Bullshit Jobs, a form of paid employment, as David Graeber puts it, "that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence, even though as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case." Take these characters as representative. An unqualified IT consultant, who despite his best efforts to get fired continues to get promoted. An employee who has twenty-five middle managers as his direct supervisors (none of whom respond to his requests). And a government worker in charge of his city's water treatment plant, who decided his time was better spent at home studying his favorite seventeenth-century writer. He collected a salary for six years before anybody noticed. While jobs such as nurses, mechanics, and garbage collectors provide true value, society tends to look down upon them while revering and hand-somely compensating marketing consultants, tax shelter attorneys, and political pollsters. Using arguments from political thinkers, philosophers, and scientists, Graeber articulates the societal and political consequences of these jobs and suggests a kind of blueprint for shifting our values to esteem creative and caring work. Book jacket.