If he's interested, maybe? I think a lot of what makes Graeber's body of work so compelling is that it kind of refutes a lot of liberal (or even overly orthodox Marxist) talking points by just literally pointing to the anthropological record and just proving other ways of living have already existed, that not only can "conflicts between individuals in a community" be resolved without a capitalist state but that humans have been doing that for thousands of years. Like Graeber opens up Debt by just fucking destroying the myth of barter, which is a foundational assumption of liberals that keeps many thinking that no other economic system can exist, and the rest of the book just hammers that point home over and over and over and over again that it's fucking wrong. So if you think your friend's main hangup is skepticism that we can have common ownership of things, like Graeber does lay out that that's literally how shit worked for a longass time before the closing of the commons, and nerds running around using money were not to be trusted because only people who can't form lasting relationships have a need for it.
Bullshit Jobs is overall the more accessible text and it can radicalize libs, but if your friend already agrees that capitalism's gonna die and is extremely ineficient then that's not going to necessarily push them any further.
literally pointing to the anthropological record and just proving other ways of living have already existed
Yeah, that was my reasoning for recommending Debt to him, since he's often one of those "have you read Econ 101/ Adam Smith" type anti-communist liberal. Just worried that it could be a bit much for him since its literally more than 500 pages.
If he's interested, maybe? I think a lot of what makes Graeber's body of work so compelling is that it kind of refutes a lot of liberal (or even overly orthodox Marxist) talking points by just literally pointing to the anthropological record and just proving other ways of living have already existed, that not only can "conflicts between individuals in a community" be resolved without a capitalist state but that humans have been doing that for thousands of years. Like Graeber opens up Debt by just fucking destroying the myth of barter, which is a foundational assumption of liberals that keeps many thinking that no other economic system can exist, and the rest of the book just hammers that point home over and over and over and over again that it's fucking wrong. So if you think your friend's main hangup is skepticism that we can have common ownership of things, like Graeber does lay out that that's literally how shit worked for a longass time before the closing of the commons, and nerds running around using money were not to be trusted because only people who can't form lasting relationships have a need for it.
Bullshit Jobs is overall the more accessible text and it can radicalize libs, but if your friend already agrees that capitalism's gonna die and is extremely ineficient then that's not going to necessarily push them any further.
Yeah, that was my reasoning for recommending Debt to him, since he's often one of those "have you read Econ 101/ Adam Smith" type anti-communist liberal. Just worried that it could be a bit much for him since its literally more than 500 pages.
tbh if anyones read adam smith at all carefully theyd be railing against the current state of the western world as much as any leftist right now lol
Debt: the first 500 pages