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Rubbish Has No Value

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TMA02: “Rubbish has no value “ In this essay i want to discuss and analyse rubbish and it’s value. Rubbish has been described as something with no value, however value is a complex term and does not complete a clear picture of rubbish. To define rubbish clearly I want to discuss the relationship between rising affluence and consumer society and how they have produced more rubbish. Also what rubbish means to different people and who are the winners and losers in the mass generation of rubbish. I will also look at the sustainability of affluent societies, its effect of the environment and why negative externalities should be but are often not considered in the valuation of goods. Using Thompsons theory of rubbish(1979) and Baumans …show more content…

They are seen to be valued in society and are socially included and have a valued identity. The opposite to which is they repressed whom consume less are often socially excluded and have devalued identities. People can move in an out of these groups depending on their income and circumstances. Advertising and social norms put pressure on people to become part of the seduced group whom consume more. Women entering the work place, households having dual incomes, the rise in the supermarket whom have low cost items allows people to consume more on smaller incomes and the decline in repair services are all factors in the rise of consumption and therefore more rubbish is produced. Now that we know some of the reason why rubbish has increased in modern society we can look more closely at the value of rubbish. I opened this essay saying that rubbish is often referred to something with no value. Rubbish sometimes can go from being worthless to being of worth again. We can use Thompsons theory ( Thompson, cited in Brown, 2009 p.123 ) to examine this . Rubbish can be often seen as something offensive or not wanted. Take for example household waste , it has to be disposed of or it would cause offence. General house hold waste is worth nothing to an individual , however to a company who collects this waste and gets paid to do so is big business. Not only are they providing a service but are also recycling some of the raw materials to be reprocessed. To a household

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