Showing results by author "David Graeber" in All Categories

Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike - either free and equal, or thuggish and warlike. Civilisation, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the 18th century as a reaction to Indigenous critiques of European society and why they are wrong. In doing so, they overturn our view of human history, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery and civilisation itself.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber, read by Christopher Ragland. Back in 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes prophesied that by the century's end, technology would see us all working 15-hour weeks. But instead, something curious happened. Today, average working hours have not decreased but increased. And now, across the developed world, three-quarters of all jobs are in services or admin, jobs that don't seem to add anything to society: bullshit jobs. 

Madagascar's lost pirate utopia represents some of the first stirrings of Enlightenment political thought. In this jewel of a book, he offers a way to 'decolonise the Enlightenment', demonstrating how this mixed community experimented with an alternative vision of human freedom, far from that being formulated in the salons and coffee houses of Europe. Its actors were Malagasy women, merchants and traders, philosopher kings and escaped slaves, exploring ideas that were ultimately to be put into practice in by Western revolutionary regimes a century later. 

Seit der Erfindung des Kredits vor 5000 Jahren treibt das Versprechen auf Rückzahlung Menschen in die Sklaverei. Die Geschichte der Menschheit erzählt David Graeber als eine Geschichte der Schulden: Eines moralischen Prinzips, das nur die Macht der Herrschenden stützt. Damit durchbricht er die Logik des Kapitalismus und befreit unser Denken vom Primat der Ökonomie. Schulden sind nur Versprechungen, so Graeber, und die Welt ist voll von Versprechungen, die nicht gehalten wurden. Jede grundlegende gesellschaftliche Veränderung aber beginnt mit der Frage: Wie können wir eine neue, eine bessere Welt schaffen?

"Brudstykker af en anarkistisk antropologi" er en lille bog med store tanker om en mulig anden verden. I et syvdelt essay reflekterer antropologen David Graeber over samtidens politiske bevægelser, den anarkistiske politiske filosofi og antropologiens enestående position som levende samfundsvidenskab. I korte manifester og tankeeksperimenter stilles der spørgsmålstegn ved aspekter af vores levevis, vi tager for givet. Samtidigt viser eksempler fra antropologien, at mennesker både har levet og fortsat lever på måder, der er mere frie fra hierarkier, statsmagt og undertrykkelse.

Durante séculos, nossos ancestrais foram considerados primitivos e infantis, sendo divididos em duas categorias: iguais, livres e inocentes ou guerreiros e brutais. Com base no pensamento de Jean-Jacques Rousseau e de Thomas Hobbes, a ideia que perdurou ao longo dos anos foi a de que só poderíamos alcançar a civilização sacrificando essas liberdades ou domesticando nossos instintos mais básicos. O antropólogo David Graeber e o arqueólogo David Wengrow demonstram como essas teorias que emergiram no século XVIII foram uma reação à crítica feita por povos indígenas à sociedade europeia.

Depuis des siècles, nous nous racontons sur les origines des sociétés humaines et des inégalités sociales une histoire très simple. Pendant l'essentiel de leur existence sur terre, les êtres humains auraient vécu au sein de petits clans de chasseurs-cueilleurs. Puis l'agriculture aurait fait son entrée, et avec elle la propriété privée. Enfin seraient nées les villes, marquant l'apparition non seulement de la civilisation, mais aussi des guerres, de la bureaucratie, du patriarcat et de l'esclavage.