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Summary:

An argument that social, political, and economic systems maintain power by discarding certain people, places, and things. Discard studies is an emerging field that looks at waste and wasting broadly construed. Rather than focusing on waste and trash as the primary objects of study, discard studies looks at wider systems of waste and wasting to explore how some materials, practices, regions, and people are valued or devalued, becoming dominant or disposable. In this book, Max Liboiron and Josh Lepawsky argue that social, political, and economic systems maintain power by discarding certain people, places, and things. They show how the theories and methods of discard studies can be applied in a variety of cases, many of which do not involve waste, trash, or pollution. Liboiron and Lepawsky consider the partiality of knowledge and offer a theory of scale, exploring the myth that most waste is municipal solid waste produced by consumers; discuss peripheries, centers, and power, using content moderation as an example of how dominant systems find ways to discard; and use theories of difference to show that universalism, stereotypes, and inclusion all have politics of discard and even purification--as exemplified in "inclusive" efforts to broaden the Black Lives Matter movement. Finally, they develop a theory of change by considering "wasting well," outlining techniques, methods, and propositions for a justice-oriented discard studies that keeps power in view.

Table of Contents:

• An introduction to discard studies
• The scales of waste (a theory of relationality)
• Insides and outsides (a theory of power)
• There's no such thing as we (a theory of difference)
• Discarding well (a theory of change).

Author/Creator:

Liboiron, Max, 1980- , author

Contributors:

Lepawsky, Josh, 1972- , author

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Discard studies: wasting, systems, and power [by Liboiron, M.]

Other Related Resources:

Print version: Discard studies [by Liboiron, M.] (Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2022] — ISBN 9780262543651; LCCN 2021038762; OCLC Number 1258217252)

Related Series:

The MIT Press

Subjects:

Waste products — Philosophy

Refuse and refuse disposal

Refuse and refuse disposal — Political aspects

Refuse and refuse disposal — Social aspects

Waste products

Philosophy

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on: Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on June 3, 2022).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 pages) : illustrations.

Digital Characteristics:

text file

Call Numbers:

HD9975.A2 L53 2022eb

ISBNs:

9780262369503 (electronic bk.)
0262369508 (electronic bk.)
9780262369510 (electronic bk.)
0262369516 (electronic bk.)
9780262543651 (paperback) [Invalid]

OCLC Numbers:

1287946136