Social Scientists focus their studies on society and the way in which people live. This is known as a Consumer Society. A society in which people often buy new goods, goods they tend not to need. Rubbish plays a big part in a consumer society, a society driven by the power of consumption. Consumption is defined by how and what people purchase, how they use them and how they are then disposed of. Rubbish is something that is not wanted by anyone, it is said to be worthless and have no value. However, value, is a complex term to refer to how useful/worthless something is, it can also refer to ‘norm’ or principle of what is right and wrong. For example, to live according to ones values. These values being to encourage or enforce social activities, while preventing or discouraging those that ought not to occur. Nevertheless, what may be rubbish and worthless to one person does not automatically mean it has zero value to another. One person’s rubbish can be another person’s income. Firstly the increase in mass consumption and the raising affluence, this is due to people being able to afford a higher standard of living, buying goods when they want them, not necessarily when they need them. This is how they identify themselves, but by doing this they are also creating more rubbish. Social scientist Zygmunt Bauman (1988) states, consumers have become identified by what they have instead of what they do. We now live in a consumer society and not an industrial society, as cited in (Hetherington 2009 page 25). According to Bauman contemporary society is divided into two groups of consumers, ‘the seduced’ and ‘the repressed’. The seduced have a positive identity and are financially secure, meaning they can engage fully in a co... ... middle of paper ... ...ysis, demand supply and then price, meaning the more in demand an item is , the harder they are to supply (limited amount) this means the higher the price is going to be. In conclusion, the consumer society we live in today is defined by the purchasing of goods. Goods which we need to dispose of leading to the rise in affluence and increase in mass consumption. Rubbish can be something of zero value to those who dispose of it, however them disposing of it can have value in other ways, waste distribution companies benefit by making money out of removing the rubbish. We have also discussed the aesthetic value of rubbish, how some objects can lose their value, become rubbish and then over a period of time regain value. After considering all evidence arguments can be made that there are numerous ways in which rubbish can be said to have value in a consumer society.
The majority of people waste food on a daily basis. In fact, in the U.S. alone there is an estimate that over half of the food produced goes uneaten; meanwhile there are people who are in need of food, and it ultimately goes to waste (Dockterman). For example, in his essay, “On Dumpster Diving,” author Lars Eighner writes about his experiences of dumpster diving with his pet dog, during his years of homelessness. According to Eighner, much of the food and materials he came across in the dumpsters were in usable shape, and many items were new. Clearly there needs to be a change in American food waste, in current and, hopefully not so much in, future generations. In order to bring about change in this misuse of food, Americans need to be conscious
Humankind produces and consumes with little regard for waste. Susan Strasser’s Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash focuses on consumption’s byproduct; trash and what humankind has done to dispose of their waste over the past decades. Strasser catalogues an often deemed unsophisticated part of our modern society as being “central to our lives yet generally silenced or ignore” (p.36), throughout her book elucidating on the premise that one’s own view and opinion of what is deemed as trash varies greatly from person to person. Strasser explicates to the reader the rise of mass markets across the world and the impacts that production and consumption have on the creation of trash. Strasser begins to follow the story of trash in the pre-colonial
We the consumer would rather pay less for any product that is needed or want. Ultimately we are the reason for high prices as well as low prices. Prices of products do not always stay the same and more popular products have higher prices than less popular products. These fluctuations, high prices and low prices are from the idea of supply and demand. Supply and demand defines the effect that the availability of a particular product and the desire or demand for that product has on price. Generally, if there is a low supply and a high demand, the price will be high (Investopedia). To understand the idea of supply and demand, the understanding of supply and the understanding of demand must be defined. The Law of Supply states that at higher prices, producers are willing to offer more products for sale than at lower prices, also that the supply increases as prices increase and decreases as prices decrease (Curriculum Link). The Law of Demand states people will buy more of a product at a lower price than at a higher price, if nothing changes, at a lower price, more people can afford to buy more goods and more of an item more frequently, than they can at a higher price and that at lower prices, people tend to buy some goods as a substitute for others more expensive (Curriculum Link). In todays economics these ideas are seen frequently in everyday life. The laws of supply and demand are seen in many ways in the company Apple Inc. Each year Apple Inc unveils a long awaited mobile operating system and IPhone. We can also see many aspects of the law of supply and demand in Nike Inc’s Jordan Brand. Jordan Brand has released a number of...
Imagine yourself in the middle of a rainforest, listen to the sounds around you, smell the fresh air, hear the wildlife; take that image and get rid of the trees around you, the sounds of wildlife, and the smell of fresh air. Instead of a rainforest you are now in the middle of a seemingly endless sea of trash and waste. The fresh scent in the air gone, the sprawling land of greenery and trees gone, and the sounds of the forest is reduced to the sound of heavy machinery trying vainly to reduce trash into smaller more compact waste.
Also recycling as spoiled societies in well developed regions. I Believe we consume way more then we need because we know it 's will be reused for a good cause but all that waste is generating more working for recyclers which in way is counterbalancing the environmental benefit. In Junkyard Planet by Adam Minter he spoke on a study that was done at the university where they observed the paper towel usage in a men 's restroom over a period of time. First with just a trash can and then the second time the recycling bin included the study found that that people used about half a hand towel more where there was a recycling bin (pg 266). “The increasing consumption found is partially due to the fact that consumers are well aware that recycling is beneficial for the environment: however the costs of recycling are less salient”(Minter 267). I believe the reason why recycling isn 't technically working is because we consumer see recycling as a first option when it 's actually should be sacred process that should be used in rarity. We as consumers need to think conserve instead of
McKenzie, A. D. “Recycling: It’s Rubbish to Waste Like This.” Global Information Netwrok 18 Nov. 2013: n. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
In the article “The Conundrum of Consumption” Alan Durning address the issue of over consumption on a global scale and the effects it has on the environment. The author addresses the problem with consumption and how consumers find value in the things they consume. Durning tells his audience that consumers have a tendency to over consume and waste resources. Durning states that for our economy to flourish that we must have consumption but we need to be able to draw the line on where enough is enough. Durning expresses that for future generations to thrive, societies will have to change their values and dramatically cut down on resources.
The law of demand states that if everything remains constant (ceteris paribus) when the price is high the lower the quantity demanded. A demand curve displays quantity demanded as the independent variable (the x-axis) and the price as the dependent variable (the y-axis). http://www.netmba.com/econ/micro/demand/curve/
Materialism has often led to excessive consumption and production than what is needed, which causes wastes in resources, as depicted with the luxurious lives of the characters in The Great Gatsby. For example, just in the U.S alone, “Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. That is more than 20 pounds of food per person every month. Not only does this mean that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year, but also 25 percent of all freshwater and huge amounts of unnecessary chemicals, energy, and land. Moreover, almost all of that uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills where it accounts for almost 25 percent of U.S. methane emissions,” (“Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its
Recycling means converting waste into usable things. However, does it really help to make a change? The things you do to clear up all your wastes, separate paper from plastic and glass and metal. Some probably would assume that recycling is helping their community and protecting the environment. But is it? Are you in fact wasting your time? There are still many people out there who does not even know what recycling is about. They don’t care throwing their waster randomly. Some people belief that keeping some things for a longer time without giving them away for recycling will be valuable in future. In some places people have no idea about recycling, they just throw away the waste or even burn them. This is just another cause of the environmental
Many theorists suggest that consumption is correlated to the identity of an individual, that by purchasing goods from the mass market, it enables us to visibly establish our position within society. This differs from previous times in which a range of factors such as family histories, character and personal achievements played a significant role (Gabriel and Lang, 2006). Instead, there is the idea that the consumer has the ability to gain pleasure over objects, not just solely by the manipulation of objects, but through the degree of control over their meaning. The degree of control is developed and achieved through imagination and provides greater possibilities of pleasure experiences. This suggests that modern consumption can be seen as device that enables individuals to ‘dream’ about the desires they wish to fulfill. (Campbell, 1989: 79) (Cited in Gabirel & Lang, 2006)
People need to think about the objects that they throw away, those items can affect the animals around the world. For example, when people throw away the plastic rings that go around pop cans, can kill animals by being stuck around their little necks. So, before people throw those plastic rings out, they need to make sure that they cut a slit into each ring so in case an animal does get stuck in one of them, then they can get out safely. Recycling does not just have to be about plastic, but when the plastic is recycled, Americans can use it for many different things. For example, the plastic can make park benches, plastic crates, and wire tubing. Many people do not understand where all of the recycled objects go, but the objects do not go anywhere they are just recycled to make other things, recycled objects also help reduce the price of the objects that they make. The best part about recycling is the fact that people can recycle almost anything and turn it into something completely different. For example, Keen’s Harvest makes bags, wallets, and totes from recycled airbags that come from automobiles. Another example is Looptworks uses cotton jersey, nylon, vinyl, and recycled polyester to make their upcycled leather iPad cases. Skateback is another company that uses recycled material to make iPhone backs; they use the discarded post-industrial skateboard materials. Vinylux
“What Would Happen If People Didn’t Recycle?” The Online Gargoyle. Friday 1 July 2011. University of Illinois Board of Trustees. March 21,2014. http://uni.illinois.edu/og/opinions/2011/07/what-would-happen-if-people-didn-
Solid waste can be classified in different types, depending on their source, household waste is generally classified as municipal waste; industrial waste as hazardous waste or hospital waste as infections waste. It quite obvious that South Africa environment is deteriorated by the illegal dumping area that around here. Solid waste is a major problem this country is facing at the moment. The province that is experience this major problem is Gauteng province, this an urban area am taking about, and since it’s clear that over population is the cause of the problem. Gauteng province is an over populated than rural area .solid waste pollution is refuse or garbage that people use in their everyday life in their house, such as plastic
Efficient waste managing approaches help with reducing and avoiding unpleasant impact on the environment and human health, while allowing financial development and progress in the quality of people’s life. People do not even imagine what is the size and capacity of their activities and the impact they produce on the environment. Garbage is an important ecological problem. It is seems amazing that approximately all of the citizens of the world identify rubbish as a major environmental problem and yet these people still litter. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (2008), an American produces 250 million tons of garbage per year (para.2). There are different circumstances that are based on the society, environmental conditions, occupation and size of each of the different family. As Richmond (2010) stated, if no administration organizations has the responsibility or resources to concentrate their efforts on the waste disposal, then the responsibility to do that is on ...