The Waste Fix

Download or read book The Waste Fix written by William G. Little and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-11 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2002. This book explores the philosophical, social, and aesthetic implications of twentieth-century America's obsession with eliminating waste. Through interdisciplinary engagement with fiction and popular culture, William Little traces the way this obsession finds expression in powerful social forces (e.g., the drive to consume conspicuously; the Progressive-era campaign to manage scientifically; the current demand to "reduce, reuse, recycle"), and shows how such forces are governed by an idealism that links proper treatment of waste with the promise of salvation.