Theorizing waste as a technique of power in capitalistic stakeholder relations

Abstract

Waste is an important socio-ecological challenge of contemporary capitalism, contributing to climate change and environmental degradation. Despite its pervasiveness and its impacts on diverse stakeholders, it yet remains largely underexplored in management and organization studies. Addressing this gap, this paper investigates waste's crucial role in shaping specific stakeholder relations by theorizing it as a technique of power. By examining the case of a socio-ecological crisis in Naples, Italy, characterized by illegal waste practices linked to Mafia organizations, we unpack two entangled techniques of power: commodifying waste – transforming it into something that can be traded on a market and perpetuating its exploitation; and ignoring waste – involving failing or refusing to consider and recognize waste. Our findings elucidate how these two techniques produced and reinforced socio-ecological hierarchies, in which local stakeholders were wasted. By highlighting the lived experiences of local communities affected by waste, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of power dynamics among diverse stakeholders in socio-ecological crises and demonstrates how waste functions as a mechanism of dispossession within capitalist accumulation.