‘The Utopia of Rules’, David Graeber (2015) – A Book in Five Minutes
What do Extinction Rebellion and Hollywood superheroes have in common? They both uncritically preserve the bureaucratic status quo by breaking the rules of everyday conduct.
This is the introduction of The Utopia of Rules by the Youtbe channel Ramblinactivist’s Videos.
What do Extinction Rebellion and Hollywood superheroes have in common? They both uncritically preserve the bureaucratic status quo by breaking the rules of everyday conduct.
Published in 2015, ‘The Utopia of Rules’ is a book about bureaucracy; how bureaucracy, not politics, is the true organising force of modern society; and why the basis of state bureaucracy is the regularisation of force and violence. Bureaucracy represents a means for power to facelessly enforce order by making people do things to one another that, without the justification of bureaucratic rules, would ordinarily appear callous or inhuman.
‘The Utopia of Rules’ expresses some profound ideas about how people strive to make change – and how easily those actions can be negated by bureaucratic rules.