Tma_2

PLAN • Put name, PI number, course and essay number on each page • Write essay question at the top of first page. • Use header and footers • Number pages • Do not forget self reflection • Try to keep within the word count. • Do not forget references at end of essay. Introduction: Paragraph 1 • What is rubbish' • Meaning of the word value. • Brief description of consumer society. • Introduce key words from question. • Prepare for main body of essay. Link all paragraphs, should run smoothly. Main Body: Paragraph 2 – affluence and consumption • Consumer society is made by what people have not what people do (this is how they identify themselves). No longer live in an Industrial society. • Describe Bauman concepts - the seduced and the repressed – social exclusion. • Link next paragraph. Paragraph 3 – Economic value – waste services • What is economic value' • Who makes money out of rubbish • Ref WRAP (page 106). • Where does this rubbish/waste go' • What effect does it have on the environment' Paragraph 4 – aesthetic value. • Objects lose value and can regain with time. • Outline Thompson theory – transient, rubbish and durable. • Use graph (chapter 3 page 123) & Stevengraphs (pages 124/25) as evidence. • Link next paragraph. Conclusion: Paragraph 5 • Outline what has been discussed in the essay. • Finish conclusion linking question. Outline the ways in which rubbish can be said to have value in a consumer society. 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 consumer society. They tend to be in full-time employment with a wealthy lifestyle giving them the opportunity to buy goods when they want them, even if not needed. They have the latest gadgets and expensive cars, if not they could face social exclusion. The repressed however are excluded from consumer society, because they are unemployed, in casual employment or have a low income, and they tend to shop within their means. Due to feeling socially excluded the repressed may have access to cheap credit allowing them to buy beyond their means but this is not always the case. Bauman bases his arguments on observations, his arguments suggest that a consumer society is defined by buying. With the seduced being able to replace items more frequently than the repressed, creates a greater about of rubbish. The more we have, the more we have to dispose of safely. For example it’s not just the old item then need disposing of, it’s also the packaging it comes in. Secondly, with rubbish also comes waste, waste we have to get rid of somehow. With the raising in mass consumption of affluent societies, more and more rubbish is being produced on a daily basic. We can see a normative notion of wastefulness in a report, The food we waste (WRAP, 2008a, 2008b) as cited in (brown 2009 page 106), this shows an average household throws away waste which calculates to nearly £ 420.00 a year. This could be reduced by better food management. It may have zero value to the person throwing it away but it has prospective value to others, for example the rubbish business. These companies’s provide economic value, the worth of a service as determined by the market. There are many businesses that make money of people disposing their rubbish, as rubbish can be a big problem. Rubbish is not something that just disappears by itself; it can be a complicated process and could possibly even extend internationally. However, in the United Kingdom most of the waste is taken to landfill sites, with the increase in mass consumption these landfills are reaching capacity and creating pollution which is harmful to the environment. In recent years, it has come to light what the implications of rubbish are having on the environment. This can be seen in humanity’s ecological footprint, 1961 – 2008 (source: GFN, 2008b) as cited in (2009 page 116, figure 3). However, not all rubbish has to be waste, depending on the object it could regain value in the future. Lastly, aesthetic value of rubbish, how some objects over time can lose value, become rubbish and then over a period of time regain value. A good example theory is base on Michael Thompson (1979) book Rubbish Theory, this is based upon how rubbish is made and then unmade. Thompson has 3 categories, durables, transients and rubbish. For example, a car loses value each time is it sold on, then over time it will no longer appeal to buyers so it becomes rubbish/worthless. However, if the car is not destroyed and is stored away for another thirty to forty years it becomes vintage. It seen buy a collector it could be sold one for a high price/value and instantly becomes a durable. This is one of the areas that have most interest to Thompson is how some items can move from one category to another. A transient can become durable, first the item has to become rubbish and then can be saved. This becomes is clear when looking at a basic graph in which Thompson shows his theory (Brown, 2009, pg 123, figure 4). A good example of this is the Stevengraphs, silk woven pictures. He noted that in the nineteenth century to the 1970’s the “Dick Turpin’s ride to New York” sold for a shill (5 pence), and then in 1879 it had become unsalable. By 1960 and 1970 some collectors changed their views on the pictures due to taste and fashion due to this the price went up, they regained value as collector’s items. However, a negative point is when he then moves on to explain Economic analysis, 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. 1140 Words. REFERENCE: Brown, V. (2009) Rubbish society: affluence, waste and values in Taylor, S., Hinchliffe, S., Clark, J.and Bromleys, (EDS) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Hetherington, K (2009) Consumer society' Shopping, consumption and social science ‘in Taylor, S., Hinchliffe, S., Clark, J.and Bromley, (EDS) Making Social Lives, Milton Keynes, The Open University. SELF REFLECTION The most interesting for me was reading the effect rubbish had on the environment. I found most of the assignment difficult, as I never really understand the different values, I did not really find this TMA as interesting as the first which made it difficult for me to concentrate. 49 words