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
Grauer, M., Thompson, M., & Wierzbicki, A.P. (1985). Plural Rationality and Interactive Decision Processes; Proceedings of an IIASA Summer Study on Plural Rationality and Interactive Decision Processes, Sopron, Hungary, August 16-26, 1984. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-15675-5
Makowski, M. & Sosnowski, J.S. (1985). A decision support system for planning and controlling agricultural production with a decentralized management structure. In: Plural Rationality and Interactive Decision Processes. Eds. Grauer, M., Thompson, M., & Wierzbicki, A.P., Berlin: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 0387156755
Grauer, M., Messner, S., & Strubegger, M. (1985). An integrated programming package for multiple-criteria decision analysis. In: Plural Rationality and Interactive Decision Processes. Eds. Grauer, M., Thompson, M., & Wierzbicki, A., pp. 248-260 Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany: Springer. ISBN 978-3-662-02432-4 10.1007/978-3-662-02432-4_18.
Thompson, M. (1984). The Cultural Construction of Nature and the Natural Destruction of Culture. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-84-092
Thompson, M. & Warburton, M. (1984). Knowing Where To Hit It: A Conceptual Framework for the Sustainable Development of the Himalayas. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-84-030