5 Types of Bullshit Job (Graeber)
“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”
1) Flunkies 2) Goons 3) Duct Tapers 4) Box Tickers 5) Task Masters
Flunky jobs require
people to work, in
order to make other
people above them
in the organisational
structure look good.
E.g. Receptionists
in firms with no
visitors or callers.
Goons often try to
sell things people
neither need nor
want. The jobs have
an aggressive
element and may
only exist because
other firms have
similar roles.
E.g. Corporate
lawyers, some call-
centre employees
and lobbyists.
Duct tapers fix
problems that
should not continue
to be a problem. If
the firm were better
organised, then the
jobs would not exist.
E.g. Data checkers
in the absence of a
spreadsheet with a
v-lookup formula.
Box ticking jobs
exist so that an
organisation can
say it is doing
something that it is
not doing.
E.g. Bank corporate
social responsibility
programmes.
Task maskers exist
to either:
1) Supervise people
that don’t really
need supervising
and/or;
2) Make new
bullshit jobs that do
not need to be
done.
E.g. Strategy
leaders in academia
