Harry Shannon
One of the most interesting books I’ve read lately is Utopia for Realists by the Dutch writer Rutger Bregman. I’m not going to give you a long review or description; just enough, I hope, to get you to read it.
Depending on where you look, the subtitles are different. The one that gives away the big themes of the book is: The case for a universal basic income, open borders, and a 15-hour workweek.
On the first of these, universal basic income, you’ve heard lots of critiques: If you give people free money, they’ll simply laze around. Bregman tells us that many studies have shown how this is simply not true. And influential studies that supposedly showed the opposite were seriously flawed in how they analyzed their data. The errors had serious impacts. For example, U.S. President Richard Nixon (yes, Nixon, that’s not a typo) was ready to pass a basic income bill – but alas the misleading reports prevented it.
Bregman also shows how common arguments about open borders, a shorter workweek, and other topics are wrong.
His genius is in making us look at issues in new ways. He does this by drawing on evidence and ideas from many sources. Just a few examples:
- Bregman notes that Mozart’s string quartets composed in the eighteenth century required four players. Today, they still require four players. “If you’re looking to up your violin’s production capacity, the most you can do is play a little faster. Put another way: Some things in life, like music, resist all attempts at greater efficiency.”
- “Recently, a friend asked me: What does working less actually solve? I’d rather turn the question around: Is there anything that working less does not solve?” Bregman then argues that stress, climate change, accidents, unemployment, emancipation of women, aging population, and inequality would all be improved if we worked less.
- David Graeber has written about “Bullshit Jobs.” Bregman writes: “They’re the jobs that even the people doing them admit are, in essence, superfluous.” He cites a survey by the Harvard Business Review of 12,000 professionals. Half felt their job had no “meaning and significance.” Another poll found 37% of British workers believe they have a bullshit job. Bregman goes on: “What makes all this especially shocking is that it’s happening in a capitalist system, a system founded on capitalist values like efficiency and productivity.” And he points out that governments are continually cutting back on genuinely useful jobs in sectors like health care or education, while the number of bullshit jobs keeps growing.
I could go on. But I recommend you read for yourself what Bregman has to say.