What Is Energy For? Social Practice and Energy Demand

TLDR

Energy occupies an ambivalent position in social theory, being seen as a driver, an outcome, or a woven fabric of society, and is often conceptualized as a resource base whose management depends on intersecting political, economic, and technological systems, though alternative perspectives exist. The authors examine the underlying models of different approaches and develop an alternative perspective that treats energy supply and demand as part of the ongoing reproduction of bundles and complexes of social practice. They propose a model that views energy supply and demand as integral to the continuous reproduction of bundles and complexes of social practice. By contrasting the two positions, the authors demonstrate that social‑theoretical commitments shape how challenges such as reducing carbon emissions are framed, revealing that practice‑based theories foreground fundamental questions about energy’s purpose while resource‑based views tend to obscure these questions.

Abstract

Energy has an ambivalent status in social theory, variously figuring as a driver or an outcome of social and institutional change, or as something that is woven into the fabric of society itself. In this article the authors consider the underlying models on which different approaches depend. One common strategy is to view energy as a resource base, the management and organization of which depends on various intersecting systems: political, economic and technological. This is not the only route to take. The authors develop an alternative approach, viewing energy supply and energy demand as part of the ongoing reproduction of bundles and complexes of social practice. In articulating and comparing these two positions they show how social-theoretical commitments influence the ways in which problems like those of reducing carbon emissions are framed and addressed. Whereas theories of practice highlight basic questions about what energy is for, these issues are routinely and perhaps necessarily obscured by those who see energy as an abstract resource that structures or that is structured by a range of interlocking social systems.