Summary

This book offers the first framing of potential social science approaches to the compelling and yet hugely under-researched topic of food waste.

Shows how the profile of waste has suddenly increased as a topic of sociological relevance and extends these developments to analyses of food Conceptualises waste as a dynamic category and one that plays an important role in processes of cultural and economic organisation Brings together theoretical and empirical contributions from a range of disciplinary perspectives Engages with food waste in a number of contexts and at a variety of scales Explores issues such as the regulation and governance of food systems; the materiality of foodstuffs and associated technologies; the dynamics of social practices and what goes on in domestic kitchens; the ways in which food and waste are circulated in societies; dumpster diving and freeganism, and socio-technical innovations for waste reduction Demonstrates how food waste is a useful lens through which to tend to a number of contemporary issues within sociology and social theory