This is my first time reading your work, so perhaps this is not the right question to ask, but given your critique Graeber, would it not be just as appropriate to see his views in terms of creating or extending a conspiracy theory?
Good point. I think the mention of "ruling classes" makes it sound conspiratorial but I don't think Graeber thinks of it as a conspiracy per se. It was not a secret thing that happened behind closed doors, it happened in plain view and others have just not seen it. What's interesting is the power that Graeber assigns to the ruling classes in terms of getting their intended outcome. This is also true in other matters, e.g. the debate he got into over at Crooked Timber on how to interpret the Iraq Wars and the relationship between US economic and military power:
This is my first time reading your work, so perhaps this is not the right question to ask, but given your critique Graeber, would it not be just as appropriate to see his views in terms of creating or extending a conspiracy theory?
Good point. I think the mention of "ruling classes" makes it sound conspiratorial but I don't think Graeber thinks of it as a conspiracy per se. It was not a secret thing that happened behind closed doors, it happened in plain view and others have just not seen it. What's interesting is the power that Graeber assigns to the ruling classes in terms of getting their intended outcome. This is also true in other matters, e.g. the debate he got into over at Crooked Timber on how to interpret the Iraq Wars and the relationship between US economic and military power:
https://crookedtimber.org/2012/02/22/the-world-economy-is-not-a-tribute-system/
https://crookedtimber.org/2012/04/04/because-imperialism/
Nice piece. So glad you went back to it. I missed the Baffler essay, and love what you
did bringing it to bear on Bullshit Jobs.
Thank you!