Rubbish Theory
The Creation and Destruction of Value - New Edition
First published in 1979, Rubbish Theory has become foundational in its field. Today, it is as relevant as ever. This edition includes a new afterword revealing how the consequences of our compulsion to discard are far from inevitable, and going on to explore how we can transform our troublesome wastes into valuable resources.
Michael Thompson is a Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria. He is also an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, University of Oxford. He is the author of Rubbish Theory (Pluto, 2017).
Joshua O. Reno is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Binghamton University and author of Waste Away (University of California Press, 2016). He is also a contributor to Rubbish Theory (Pluto, 2017).
Joshua O. Reno is a Professor at Binghamton University, USA. He is the author of 'Waste Away' 2016, 'Military Waste' 2020 and, with Britt Halvorson, 'Imagining the Heartland' 2022. He co-edited, with Catherine Alexander, the collection 'Economies of Recycling', 2012, Zed Books.
Preface
Introduction to the New Edition
1. The Filth in the Way
2. Stevengraphs - Yesterday’s Kitsch
3. Rat-infested Slum or Glorious Heritage?
4. From Things to Ideas
5. A Dynamic Theory of Rubbish
6. Art and the Ends of Economic Activity
7. Monster Conservation
8. The Geometry of Credibility
9. The Geometry of Confidence
10. The Needle’s Eye
Afterword (co-authored by M. Bruce Beck)
Notes
Index
eBook ISBN: 9781786800978
304 pages
135mm x 215mm