Honorable Mention, 2008 AAASS Davis Center Prize
A social and cultural history of waste, environmental policy, and postsocialist transition
"This is a good book, with a masterful balance of common sense and sophisticated social analysis that does not let relevance be defined by academic discourse only." —Judit Bodnar, American Journal of Sociology , May 2008
"Gille's book is a fascinating analysis of environmental policies and the politics of waste, as well a study of socialism through its relationships with what is usually considered as a byproduct of production and/or consumption." —Barbara Potrata, Leeds Institute of Health Studies, Year XV.2 2009
Zsuzsa Gille combines social history, cultural analysis, and environmental sociology to advance a long overdue social theory of waste in this study of waste management, Hungarian state socialism, and post–Cold War capitalism. From 1948 to the end of the Soviet period, Hungary developed a cult of waste that valued reuse and recycling. With privatization the old environmentally beneficial, though not flawless, waste regime was eliminated, and dumping and waste incineration were again promoted. Gille’s analysis focuses on the struggle between a Budapest-based chemical company and the small rural village that became its toxic dump site.
Zsuzsa Gille grew up in socialist Hungary and was active in semi-legal environmental and peace movements. She is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.
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Distribution: World
Publication date: 3/13/2007
Format: cloth 264 pages, 13 b&w photos, 1 figures, 2 maps, 6.125 x 9.25
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-34838-8
ISBN: 0-253-34838-2
