Social science perspectives on energy transitions

Abstract

While energy has not traditionally been a subject of major theoretical concerns in the social sciences, developments in recent years, driven by policy ambitions to decarbonise energy generation, have opened up the energy system to social science enquiry. In the process, theoretical developments are converging towards a broadly speaking ‘socio-technical’ framing of energy issues, which challenges scientific–rational accounts of technological change and diffusion that still dominate in policy circles. Approaches based on a socio-technical reading of technological change offer valuable insights into how to conceptualise the transition towards more sustainable energy futures and the embedding of new technologies into the existing energy system. This paper offers a review of both well-established and more recent social science approaches to understanding energy issues, with a particular focus on the uptake of renewable energy in the electricity sector. It is suggested that the move from a techno-economic towards a socio-technical paradigm is related to the acknowledgement of the heterogeneity and complexity of energy issues, where the more interdisciplinary socio-technical approaches are able to provide more analytical scope for understanding contemporary developments in the energy system.