George Scialabba on Chickenshit Jobs vs Bullshit Jobs for Creatives
In a personal essay, critic George Scialabba reflects on David Graeber's concept of 'bullshit jobs' and proposes 'chickenshit jobs'—modest, undemanding part-time work that allows creative people to pursue their art. Drawing on his own 30-year experience scheduling events at Harvard, Scialabba argues that such jobs, combined with affordable housing and union protections, are essential for a lively literary and artistic culture. He critiques neoliberalism for squeezing these opportunities through gig work and full-time low-pay jobs. Scialabba also discusses his lifelong mood disorder and the luck of buying a Cambridge apartment in 1980. He concludes by invoking Lewis Hyde's The Gift and Marx's concept of the shortening of the working day, lamenting political failures that have left younger generations to face the tyranny of the market.
Key facts
- George Scialabba worked six hours a day, five days a week for 30 years scheduling events at Harvard.
- David Graeber defined bullshit jobs as pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious tasks.
- Graeber's taxonomy includes flunkies, goons, duct tapers, box tickers, and taskmasters.
- Scialabba bought his Cambridge apartment in 1980 before real estate prices soared.
- He has a lifelong mood disorder: recurrent acute clinical depression.
- Total US labor productivity has roughly doubled in the last 50 years, with 90% of gains going to the richest 10%.
- Lewis Hyde's The Gift suggests artists take a secondary job unrelated to their art.
- Scialabba's most recent books are Only a Voice (Verso) and The Sealed Envelope (Yale).
Entities
Artists
- George Scialabba
- David Graeber
- Lewis Hyde
- James Wood
- Richard Rorty
- Ralph Nader
- Bernie Sanders
- Jeffrey Sachs
- Robert Putnam
- Samuel Huntington
- Stanley Hoffmann
- Benigno Aquino
Institutions
- Harvard University
- Verso
- Yale University Press
- The New York Intellectuals
- Democratic Party
Locations
- Cambridge
- United States
- Boston