How_Rubbish_Can_Have_Value_in_a_Consumer_Society

Outline the ways in which rubbish can be said to have value in a Consumer Society. This essay will explore the ways in which rubbish can be said to have value in a consumer society We used to live in an ‘Industrial Society’, which was divided by class divisions, those that were affluent were privileged to consume as they desired. We now live in a ‘Consumer Society’, which reflects how important consumption had become to modern society. With the rise in affluence, materials goods are no longer simply about meeting basic needs, but help to create our identities and status, and have become a form of socialisation and self-expression An individual may possess an object which is of great value to them, then due to the change in taste or fashion, the item loses value for them. They may then sell or give the item to someone, who then Will give the item value Thompson (Thompson, p.124) highlights items need to lose value to become valuable again, an example that he provides is the Stevengraphs, these works of art were extremely popular in their time. Due to changes in taste, they became worthless. In the 1960s, 1970s, they pictures picked up value again and became collector’s items. The UK has predominately used landfill sites to dispose of rubbish, however there is now pressure on the UK to recycle and film alternative ways to dispose of rubbish Rubbish can be said to have environmental value As we have examined, value can mean different things to different people and is dependent on an individual’s perception of