Outline_the_Ways_in_Which_Rubbish_Can_Be_Said_to_Have_Value_in_a_Consumer_Society

Outline the ways in which rubbish can be said to have value in a consumer society. In today’s ‘consumer society’ (Hetherington, 2009, p. 13) rubbish can be said to have a variety of value and uses. This is dependent on how rubbish is seen . Rubbish does now give us a lot of recycling business not just locally but also globally. Rubbish can be seen in many different notions of value. Notions of value can be split in to four areas: use value, ‘intrinsic’ value, ‘economic’ value and ‘normative’ value (Brown, 2009, p. 105 ). Use value is something that is of use. It fulfils for fills its purpose, does the job it was designed to do. For example black plastic bags are brought to store waste in them and they for fill their role in many different ways. They have value by providing us with a way of getting rid of or storing items. Intrinsic value looks at objects, what is it worth and how it is viewed. Economic value looks on what people really want so one person’s necessity may be another’s luxuries this can be seen at any level regardless of income. When looking at the past a mobile phone was classed as a luxury but now it seems to be a necessity in the social process. (Hetherington, 2009, p. 25 Making Social lives, 2009) Normative value can be seen as what is we regard as right and wrong, usually in terms of conduct or relationships. To live according to your values is to live in consistent with what you think is right or what you think you ought to do. These four meanings are constructed socially by the user Within a consumer society, the ‘value’ of rubbish can be influenced by the demand and supply of materials . There are many factors that influence demand; these are taste, fashion, income and expectations of future price ranges. Influences for supply are availability, costs and the degree of rarity of an item. All of these demands and supply factors have an influence on how rubbish is valued . With the rise in affluence family’s can afford to buy more products and replace them at a more frequent rate. Technology has a big factor on the growth of rubbish as the more up to date products become the more society wants to replace such items. Once the old products are replaced with the new, what then happens to the old products' They become rubbish but of what value' There is an old saying “where there’s muck, there’s brass ” still has truth to it. In more recent times there has been a major push into recycling our rubbish (Brown, 2009, p. 117)., tThis is because disposal resources (e.g. landfill sites) are quickly becoming full. Across the UK you can now see that recycling has become the norm for most households this is because the local councils have now had the big push on trying to restore a better rubbish society. There is a slogan “reduce, reuse and recycle”. tThis slogan is very influential in drive towards recycling. Recycling gives rubbish the chance to be revalued and therefore it can now be revalued using the four notions: use value, intrinsic value, economic value and normative value dependant on the item. One thing that really draws attention to the value of rubbish is “Rubbish business”. These are now becoming a very poplar way of organising/revitalising rubbish. Such business turns rubbish into value by restoration . This is key to making rubbish have value in a consumer society. Rubbish that is now of value can start to produce positive pricing from its new state. These businesses have come about through the need to change how we deal with rubbish especially environmentally. One business that is really changing the way society treats the environment is the recycling movement. There is now a big international disposal and recycling business which spreads globally as it is cheaper to dispose of recyclable items in a lower income country and expensive waste in high income countries (Brown, 2009, pp. 118-20). There is a growth in paper, plastics and glass products that are being transported around the world but what you get in return is more products being reused in new consumer products. With new products coming back it creates jobs, business it allows items to be consumed once more may ‘be as a different object but it still is of value to the consumer. Recycling also adds value globally because of how and where the recycling is done. For example recycling is building more jobs, more money new styles of living in the countries used for recycling. Some of the small countries may have once been going into consumer breakdown but with the rubbish business kicking in it has given sight of potentially a new successful consumer society in that country. With regards to rubbish business you can also see that there are many charity shops now than there ever has been, is this because we are consuming more or is it because opinions/expressions of rubbish are changing. People are now seeing materials and objects in different light, for example: clothes that may be a little worn is of no use to them but is of extreme use to someone in a less wealthy environment. These businesses are a massive value to rubbish as they are giving products a new leash of life. Looking at (Thompson’s ‘Rubbish Theory’ (1979, cited in Brown, 2009, p. 123), gives us another look at how rubbish is valued, disvalued and how it is taken to and from the rubbish pile. Thompson tells us that there are three categories of objects: Objects that are produced for ordinary use, a ‘rubbish’ category of zero value and a ‘durable’ category whose value increases overtime. Thompson argues believes that products are produced for either mass consumption or elite consumption. Just because rubbish is out of sight out of mind it plays a vital role in how it is revalued. Thompson’s theory explains how rubbish is both made and then unmade as some things lose and then gain value. Using Thompson’s theory, a piece of Art work may be of f less value, so zero value at the start but once the item turns from a couple of sales to becoming more in demand then the value and cost of the item increases which would then move the item into the durable category. Thompson argues that there may be believes in eccentric evaluations, valuations that are quite clearly done without much detail. Thompson uses the term ‘aesthetic value’ to describe what makes an object is about what is beautiful and attractive. We can say that economic value increases if n an object moves in to the durable category and can be defined as having an aesthetic value . To summarise my answer to the question ‘outline the ways in which rubbish can be said to have value in a consumer society.’ From studying through the various topics on rubbish it can be seen you can see that actually rubbish does have a vital part to play in the consumer society. It can be seen You can see that the word ‘value’ has varied meanings, and when used in regard to with rubbish it can actually give products a category to come under when being revalued. The Rrecycling of rubbish has had a massive impact on rubbish’s value and also people’s perception of rubbish is now changing. People are thinking more about the effects of rubbish on the environment and to that end are recycling more goods for the better of someone or something else. We can also see that rubbish is big business and provides a variety of incomes, these businesses help to regenerate rubbish into something of value .