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
Thompson, M. (2017). Rubbish Theory: The Creation and Destruction of Value. (2nd ed.) London, UK: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-9978-2
Bednarik, P., Dieckmann, U. , Linnerooth-Bayer, J., Magnuszewski, P., Sigmund, K., & Thompson, M. (2017). Behavioral experiments reveal how risk perception and worldviews impact common-good governance. In: IIASA Institutional Evaluation 2017, 27 February-1 March 2017, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria.
Gyawali, D., Thompson, M., & Verweij, M., eds. (2017). Aid, Technology and Development: The Lessons from Nepal. New York, USA: Routledge. ISBN 9781138656918
Ekenberg, L. , Hansson, K., Danielson, M., Cars, G., de Betou, L.I., Buurman, J., Ernst, M., Fasth, T., Forsberg, R., Fürst, J.G., Hansson, J., Karlström, P., Kivunike, F.N., Larsson, A., Liljenberg, T., Liljenström, H., Marincea, A., Mihai, A., Riabacke, M., Sauter, W., Svedin, U., Thompson, M., Tusubira, F.F., Verhagen, H., & Wrange, M. (2017). Deliberation, Representation, Equity: Research Approaches, Tools and Algorithms for Participatory Processes. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78374-303-2
Thompson, M. & Winiwarter, V. (2017). Interdisciplinary Approaches to Technological Innovation. In: Ecologies of Innovation. Eds. Winiwarter, V., pp. 1-8 Vienna, Austria: Commission for Interdisciplinary Ecological Studies (KIOES), Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW). 10.1553/KIOESOP_006.