ABSTRACT

In critiques of the American Military Industrial Complex, social actors in the weapons industry are often depicted as wasteful. For many years, and across the political spectrum, it has been common to accuse those who profit from war of wasting government investment or building useless weapons. Based on interviews with engineers and accountants at a Lockheed Martin facility in Upstate New York, I argue that representing and avoiding waste is actually a central dimension of creating weapons. Through environmental testing and risk analysis, those involved in military procurement and production actually use representations of waste as a way to legitimise and enjoy their labour.

摘要

在对美国军事工业联合体的批评中，武器工业中的社会参与者经常被描述为浪费。多年来，在各个政治派别中，指责那些从战争中获利的人浪费政府投资或制造无用的武器是很常见的。根据对纽约州北部洛克希德·马丁公司工厂的工程师和会计师的采访，我认为代表和避免浪费实际上是制造武器的核心维度。通过环境测试和风险分析，那些参与军事采购和生产的人实际上利用废物的表现来合法化和享受他们的劳动。