A-Infos (en) France, Monde Libertaire - IDEAS AND STRUGGLES: David Graeber (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

An Anthropology of Human Possibilities ---- David Graeber would 
undoubtedly have been outraged and stood firmly against the grim 
policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. They are a caricature of 
everything Graeber denounced throughout his books and activist work. The 
Presses Universitaires de Lyon have had the good fortune to publish two 
works devoted to the thought of this American anthropologist, anarchist 
militant, and key figure of the Occupy Wall Street movement. ---- The 
first, presented by Véronique Dutraive, is titled Value, Politics and 
Democracy in the United States; the second is Thinking and Acting with 
David Graeber. For reasons of readability and accessibility, it is 
advisable to begin with the first, which is relatively short (around 80 
pages). Its very title highlights its relevance. It contains a biography 
of David Graeber, underlining his modest origins, his activist 
commitments alongside his intellectual reflections.

It is a good introduction to Graeber's complex body of work. His ideas 
span "a wide field touching on sociology, economics, politics and 
philosophy." Beyond his academic recognition, he also gained a global 
reputation in circles that contest the current economic order, as well 
as among the general public. He is regarded as one of the most 
significant intellectuals of the early 21st century in the social sciences.

Graeber still calls on us today!

The starting point of his 2011 reflection was this question: why did the 
American working class vote for the Republican George W. Bush rather 
than the Democrat John Kerry? Readers can easily draw parallels to the 
current situation in the United States. It seems the Democrats have 
taken refuge in values that are more societal than social. Disadvantaged 
classes, finding no response to their immediate concerns in this 
discourse, have turned to traditional, almost mythical American 
values-even if illusory. Graeber reflects on the debate between altruism 
and selfishness. He also distinguishes between "value" in terms of money 
and the political, artistic, family, and more collective "values." The 
working classes feel excluded from access to the latter. His analysis of 
the relationship to Pierre Bourdieu's theories is insightful, as is his 
reference to Mauss's notion of the gift. Graeber also highlights 
widespread distrust toward the political-managerial class, the state, 
and its bureaucracy. This translates into the weakening of American 
democracy. Readers can project these analyses onto U.S. political life 
today, or even onto French politics. His wife, Nika Dubrovsky, presents 
their shared reflections in Another Art World regarding the lack of 
esteem felt by the working class toward the elites who monopolize 
"useful and altruistic careers" from which they feel culturally and 
economically excluded. She underlines the brutality of unfulfilled 
promises made to this class, especially in the artistic field.

Is Another World Possible?

The second book, also published by the Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 
is titled Thinking and Acting with David Graeber. It gathers, under the 
direction of Véronique Dutraive, the contributions of anthropologists, 
archaeologists, political scientists, and philosophers engaged in 
continuing the dual dialogue David Graeber sought to build between the 
humanities and social sciences on one hand, and political as well as 
academic activism on the other. The book's subtitle is telling of its 
purpose: Building Bridges between the Social Sciences.

The first part of the book explores Graeber's contributions to 
anthropology, economics, and sociology. He "encourages us to believe 
that another, better world is possible-not merely as an idealist, but as 
an anthropologist of human possibilities." Concerning economics, he 
debunks myths such as the barter fable, examines the reality of debt, 
and analyzes bureaucracy in corporations. He denounces the 
instrumentalization of economics by politics and questions the moral 
dimension of the economy in its relationship to politics. Post-Keynesian 
in his orientation, he emphasizes the state's role as a regulator of the 
market. The opposition between market and state, he argues, is absurd. 
Another essay analyzes the scientific style of Graeber's anarchist 
anthropology and his way of developing and transmitting ideas.

The second part addresses several key themes raised by Graeber. First, 
the relationship between work and social movements. Particularly 
developed is his analysis of "bullshit jobs": his critique of work does 
not concern only low-skilled jobs. He underscores the meaning of work 
and notes how many executives leave their companies to become artisans. 
This growing awareness, according to Graeber, can initiate a 
revolutionary process, one that progresses gradually by rehabilitating 
political imagination and the citizens' capacity for self-organization.

Graeber also examined the question of debt, defending the cancellation 
of debt in times of crisis, as debt plunges individuals into poverty.

The final theme-among others-is titled "Anarchism, Freedom, and the 
Human Economy." One contributor recalls Graeber's involvement in the 
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) 
movement.

To conclude, Véronique Dutraive writes: "By bringing together 
perspectives from different disciplines around his key concepts, this 
work aims to extend Graeber's approach: to think through the diversity 
of human possibilities in order to open concrete horizons of freedom, 
equality, and self-organization."

David Graeber
Value, Politics and Democracy in the United States
Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 2025

Collective edited by Véronique Dutraive
Thinking and Acting with David Graeber. Building Bridges between the 
Social Sciences
Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 2025

https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8591
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