10.2190/NHYF-BMYU-9DMV-XEQB NHYFBMYU9DMVXEQB 1 Social Obstacles to Waste Management: The Solid Waste Problem in the Perception of Different Social Actors 1 13 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 NHYFBMYU9DMVXEQB.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=NHYFBMYU9DMVXEQB 1 Bernd Martens University of Tubingen, Germany Seven hundred and forty-two people (experts and opinion leaders) were asked about their assessments and preferences concerning waste management, especially about different strategies for source reduction in Germany. the data were collected by a social survey in 1992. the respondents belong to six different social actor groups. Multivariate methods (discriminant analysis and correspondence analysis) were primarily used to analyze the data. the results exhibit a widespread but systematic dispersion of opinions among the different social actors. These differences are already visible with regard to features of "the" solid waste crisis. the different perspectives of the situation are partially connected with certain proposed strategies for avoiding waste. These social definitions of the situation and proposed strategies illustrate some social obstacles to waste management in Germany. G. Himmelmann, Abfallentsorgung als neues Politikfeld, <i>Gegenwartskunde, 39</i>:3, pp. 377-404, 1990 K. A. Gourlay, <i>World of Waste: Dilemmas of Industrial Development</i>, Zed Books, London, 1992. J. P. West, S. J. Lee, and R. C. Feiock, Managing Municipal Waste: Attitudes and Opinions of Administrators and Environmentalists, <i>Environment and Behavior, 24</i>:2, pp. 111-133, 1992. J. M. Jasper, the Political Life Cycle of Technological Controversies, <i>Social Forces, 67</i>:2, pp. 357-377, 1988. S. L. Cutter, <i>Living with Risk</i>, Edward Arnold, London, 1993. W. Rathje and C. Murphy, <i>Rubbish! the Archaeology of Garbage</i>, Harper Collins, New York, 1992. A. E. Ladd, the Solid Waste Crisis and Support for Recycling: A Research Note, <i>Sociological Spectrum, 10</i>:4, pp. 469-484, 1990. A. E. Ladd and S. Laska, Opposition to Solid Waste Incineration: Pre-Implementation Anxieties Surrounding a New Environmental Controversy, <i>Sociological Inquiry, 61</i>:3, pp. 299-313, 1991. B. Martens, Was ist am Abfall problematisch? Ergebnisse einer Befragung in Baden-Wuerttemberg, <i>Klagenfurter Beitraege zur Technikdiskussion, Heft 59</i>, 1993. C. Zeiss, Impact Management Priorities at Waste Facilities; Differences between Host Community Residents' and Technical Decision Makers' Values, <i>Journal of Environmental Systems, 19</i>:1, pp. 1-23, 1989. J. P. West, M. M. Haley, S. J. Lee, and R. C. Feiock, the Implementation of Local Solid Waste Policies in Florida, <i>Journal of Environmental Systems, 20</i>:1, pp. 71-90, 1990. S. Dunwoody and R. J. Griffin, Journalistic Strategies for Reporting Long-Term Environmental Issues: A Case Study of Three Superfund Sites, in <i>The Mass Media and Environmental Issues</i>, A. Hansen (ed.), Leicester University Press, Leicester, pp. 22-50, 1993. W. A. Gamson and A. Modigliani, Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach, <i>American Journal of Sociology, 95</i>:1, pp. 1-37, 1989. M. J. Greenacre, <i>Correspondence Analysis in Practice</i>, Academic Press, London, 1993. I. H. Bernstein, <i>Applied Multivariate Analysis</i>, Springer, New York, 1987. M. Jambu, <i>Exploration informatique et statisque de données</i>, Dunod, Paris, 1989.