Michael Thompson
Guest Emeritus Research Scholar
Equity and Justice Research Group
Population and Just Societies Program
Biography
Originally a professional soldier, Michael Thompson studied anthropology (first degree and PhD at University College London, B.Litt at Oxford) whi9le also following a career as a Himalayan Mountaineer. (Annapurna South Face 1970, Everest Southwest Face 1975). His early research on how something second-hand becomes an antique (Rubbish Theory, 1979, Oxford University Press) led to work on the "energy tribes" (in various western think tanks), on risk, on Himalayan deforestation and sustainable development, on household product development (in Unilever), on global climate change, on technology and development, and on what might be called "the even newer Institutionalism" (e.g., Cultural Theory, co-authored with Richard Ellis and Aaron Wildvasky, 1990, West View).Dr. Thompson is a Fellow at the James Marin Institute for Science and Civilization, University of Oxford and a Senior Researcher at the Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Research, University of Bergen, Norway. At IIASA he is affiliated with the Risk and Resilience (RISK) Program.
Last update: 02 MAY 2016
Publications
Marcello, M., Thompson, M., & Umejesi, I. (2024). REDD+: A fine example of worst practice. Environmental Development 52 e101071. 10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101071.
Russell, C., Gyawali, D., Linnerooth-Bayer, J., & Thompson, M. (2023). Disaster risk reduction reconsidered. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 96 e103895. 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103895.
Thompson, M. (2023). Where Would We Be Without Rubbish? In: Of Hoarding and Housekeeping: Material Kinship and Domestic Space in Anthropological Perspective. Eds. Newell, S., pp. 228-254 New York, NY: Berghahn. ISBN 978-1-80539-092-3
Verweij, M., Ney, S., & Thompson, M. (2022). Cultural Theory’s contributions to climate science: reply to Hansson. European Journal for Philosophy of Science 12 (2) e34. 10.1007/s13194-022-00464-y.
Thompson, M. (2022). Oblivion, Eternity and Tick-Tock. In: Künste und Apparate: Berichte aus einem Labor (1995-2005). Eds. Reck, H.U., Zielinski, S., & Butz, K., pp. 320-326 Köln: Halem Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86962-528-7