There’s a reason why people buy red staplers, Dwight Schrute bobbleheads and stuffed Dilberts: It’s because many Americans are disenchanted with their jobs, and those items —- pop culture icons that symbolize the worst in office culture —- affirm that others view the workplace with the same disregard.

“I think it helps people to know they are not alone in their frustrations,” said Scott Adams, who created his “Dilbert” comic strip nearly two decades ago.

In a sense, then, pop culture has become therapeutic for the disheartened American worker. And while many books (think anything by Kafka) and movies (“Fight Club”) have dealt with jobs that can suck the life out of their employees, three sources have stood out as the ultimate symbols for everything wrong about the office: “Dilbert,” the movie “Office Space” and the TV show “The Office,” whose fifth season premiered last month.

“Dilbert,” of course, started it all. In 1989, Adams debuted his strip about an engineer who deals daily with the frustrations of his workplace. It was a huge success, prompting readers to buy stuffed dolls, calendars and books.

“People like to see me mock the things they can’t mock themselves without losing their job,” Adams said in an e-mail interview. “I am sort of a surrogate voice for them.”

“Office Space,” a cult favorite from 1999, features a trio of software employees trying to fight back against impending layoffs and a numbing office environment.

As film critic Roger Ebert wrote, the movie is about work that crushes the spirit: “Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible.”

That “The Office” started out as a British TV show suggests that the view of the office as a dysfunctional family is not merely an American perception. The U.S. version of this sitcom takes place in a Pennsylvania paper company, where workers confront the boss’ boneheaded decisions —- and the awkward scenarios they foster —- on a daily basis.

With all that in mind, we decided to look at how the office is viewed by the Big Three —- “Dilbert,” “The Office” and “Office Space.”

Office environment

> “Dilbert.” The workplace is called the Land of Cubicles, where workers file into a maze of partitions. Artwork comes from low-cost Dogbert Corporate Art Source, which boasts the motto: “If it’s in a frame, it will look like art to you.”

> “Office Space.” The gray and mostly windowless Initech building is also filled with cubicles. When consultants are brought in to recommend layoffs, a large banner is erected, asking workers: “Is This Good For the Company?”

> “The Office.” Michael Scott has a room with window blinds that allow him to hide from employees when he makes unpopular decisions.

Employee view of work

> “The Office.” Jim Halpert resists promotion, saying, “Because right now, this is a job. If I advance any higher, this would be my career. And if this were my career, I’d have to throw myself in front of a train.”

> “Office Space.” Peter Gibbons tells his therapist: “Ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that’s on the worst day of my life.”

> “Dilbert.” Dogbert acts as the therapist, telling Dilbert, “You suffer from the dull ache of insignificance.”

Management

> “Office Space.” Bill Lumbergh is a condescending boss who has no life outside the office. When faced with a difficult task —- like firing an employee named Milton Waddams —- he has someone else do it.

> “The Office.” Michael Scott, meanwhile, is ignorant of the fact that none of his employees respect him. (He owns a “World’s Best Boss” mug he bought for himself.) When asked how he views himself as a supervisor, he says, “I guess the atmosphere that I’ve tried to create here is that I’m a friend first and a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.”

> “Dilbert.” The pointy-headed boss is a micro-manager who doesn’t listen to employees. In one meeting, the boss announces, “That’s the plan. Now I will listen to your irrational concerns” before putting headphones on.

Work functions

> “Office Space.” In the Big Three, work functions are perceived as nonsensical, work for the sake of work and frustratingly bureaucratic. “Office Space” best illustrates this when Lumbergh and other bosses repeatedly remind Peter that he must include cover sheets on his TPS reports.

> “Dilbert.” Meetings are seen as a waste of time where confusing jargon makes presentations pointless. In one meeting, Dilbert says, “The next transparency is an incomprehensible jumble of complexity and undefined acronyms … you might wonder why I’m going to show it to you since the only possible result is to lower your opinion of my communication skills.”

> “The Office.” Employees often run personal errands for the boss or attend special meetings —- about diversity, office safety or women in the workplace, for example —- that are necessitated by something their boss Michael did.

Technology

> “The Office.” Michael resists a new Web site, preferring old-fashioned methods of doing business. “People will not be replaced by machines,” he declares, after crashing a car with a sophisticated navigation system. “In the end, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake.”

> “Dilbert.” Technology is deliberately confusing. As Dilbert once said at a presentation: “You won’t read my technical report, so I summarized it in this complicated slide. If you stare at it long enough, you will either experience the illusion of understanding it or be too embarrassed to admit you don’t.”

> “Office Space.” The three main characters take out their frustrations on a printer, beating it to bits with a bat.