SOCECOL E8 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Planned Obsolescence, Polar Vortex, Precautionary Principle
Document Summary
Material economy - production system, starts with the extraction of raw materials from the ground and processing into usable materials. Cannot run a linear system with a finite planet, it is unsustainable. United states produces 5% of the world"s population but uses 30% of the world"s total resources. The corporation is larger than the government. The top priority of government and business (corporations) Ex: after war in iraq, bush pushed citizens to be consumers, to buy more things. We are consumers, we consume a high rate and within 6 months trash what we have purchased, this is the main problem with the linear system of the material economy. What are planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence. Designed for the dump - objects that are made with the intent of having them discarded shortly. Purposely make objects useless after a short period of time so we have to purchase something remotely similar that we need. Objects that are made to be useless.