Transformations  in
Business & Economics

The Shadow Side of Consumer Culture: Waste and Waste Pickers' Subculture
Donata Petruzyte

ABSTRACT. Our research indicates that the way managers consider economic indicators, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and fairness issues, could be predicted by cultural dimensions. Of all cultural dimensions studied, future orientation and humane orientation proved to be the best predictors for managerial values. On the other hand, the degree to which top managers value the welfare of the local community and nation, ethics and the economic effectiveness of their company, influences positively their employees' motivation and organizational commitment. Results point to the universality of certain values and the need for top management to communicate them effectively in today's global environment. The aim of the article is, through the analysis of the phenomenon of "waste", to reveal the situation of waste pickers in the society and the paradoxical relationship between the society and them. The tasks are to formulate and shortly discuss historical aspects of waste, its management and secondary use, through the historical role of waste pickers in the system of waste management; to analyze the concept of waste and its possibilities as an analytic means for the analysis of phenomena in social life; to shortly introduce the subculture of waste pickers, and the symbolic meaning of their work. Waste accompanies humanity from its very beginning. When civilizations develop, waste loses its natural role. It becomes unnecessary trash which is disposed as far as possible from people who creates it. Thus, in the contemporary world waste does not become a part of life for anybody to save the poorest (shadow) layers of society. These layers of society (similarly like waste in the material world) are considered not important, redundant. However, like waste goes through the process of decay and gets a new sacred power of creativity, so can the marginalized people, passing through the processes of stigmatization and exclusion, become for the society a new challenge. This challenge can give a possibility that would lead society towards a fuller integration of all its parts and to more mature functioning.

KEYWORDS: waste, waste pickers.

JEL classification: J71, 139.