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From the Cult of Waste to the Trash Heap of History

The Politics of Waste in Socialist and Postsocialist Hungary

Zsuzsa Gille author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Indiana University Press

Published:4th Apr '07

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

From the Cult of Waste to the Trash Heap of History cover

Honorable Mention, 2008 AAASS Davis Center Prize

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.

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.May 2008

-- Judit Bodnar * American Journal of Sociology *

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. Year XV.2 2009

-- Barbara Potrata * Leeds Institute of Health Studi

ISBN: 9780253348388

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

264 pages