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Michael Thompson
Guest Emeritus Research Scholar
Equity and Justice Research Group
Population and Just Societies Program
Contact
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
Thompson, M. (1997). Cultural theory and integrated assessment. Environmental Modeling & Assessment 2 (3) 139-150. 10.1023/A:1019065412191.
Thompson, M. (1997). Security and solidarity: An anti-reductionist framework for thinking about the relationship between us and the rest of nature. The Geographical Journal 163 (2) 141-149. 10.2307/3060177.
Price, M.F. & Thompson, M. (1997). The complex life: Human land uses in mountain ecosystems. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 6 (1) 77-90. 10.2307/2997528.
Ellis, R.J. & Thompson, M. (1997). Culture Matters: Essays in Honor of Aaron Wildavsky. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3117-
Thompson, M. & Trisoglio, A. (1997). Managing the unmanageable. In: Saving the Seas: Values, Scientists, and International Governance. Eds. Brooks, L.A. & VanDeveer, S.D., College Park: Maryland Sea Grant College. ISBN 0-943-676-622