Effects of the Spread of Vacuum Cleaners and Electric Refrigerators on the Relationship between Waste and People : Focusing on the Period of High Economic Growth in Japan

ソウジキ　ト　デンキレイゾウコ　ノ　フキュウ　ヲ　トオシテ　ミル　ゴミ　ト　ニンゲン　ノ　カンケイ　コウド　ケイザイ　セイチョウキ　ニ　チャクモク　シテ

ウメカワ, ユキ

Umekawa, Yuki

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ シャカイガク ニンゲンガク ジンルイガク ケンキュウシツ

Sociology, Anthropology and Philosophy, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

高度経済成長期

掃除機

電気冷蔵庫

ごみと人間の関係

Waste

high economic growth period

vacuum cleaner

electric refrigerator

relationship between waste and people

Articles

This study aims to reveal how the relationship between waste and people changed due to the increased use of vacuum cleaners and electric refrigerators in the period of high economic growth in Japan. The analysis is mainly based on Shufu no Tomo, a women’s magazine, and Seiso Kyokuho, a bulletin of Bureau of Public Cleansing Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Three fi ndings emerge. First, changes in housing structures during high economic growth forced a change from cleaning by sweeping with a broom to sucking with a vacuum cleaner, which reduced the amount of air-borne dust in houses but made people strongly aware of such dust. Second, as the electric refrigerator made it possible not only to cool items but also to store them, people amassed surplus goods. They bought, made, and stored too much of an item, resulting in eventual spoilage. Third, when vacuum cleaners and electric refrigerators were discarded as bulky refuse, the heterogeneity of bulky refuse became more prominent, whereas previously waste had been understood as small things that could be burned, landfi lled, and allowed to decay. Thus, people gained awareness of waste such as air-borne dust in houses, surplus goods, and bulky refuse, expanding the concept of waste itself.