Rethinking the meaning of “landscape shocks” in energy transitions: German social representations of the Fukushima nuclear accident

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Sociotechnical sustainability transitions are understood to involve changes in cultural meaning, alongside a wide variety of other changes. One of the most popular conceptual models of such change, the multi-level perspective, exogenously locates slow-changing cultural factors in the ‘sociotechnical landscape’, viewing this landscape as periodically subject to ‘shocks’ that may support the break-through of niche innovations. Here we emphasise that shock to a sociotechnical system has social psychological dimensions, including meaning-related correlates. Accordingly, we apply social representations theory, as a theory of meaning, to provide a social psychological account of energy landscape shock and associated policy change. For illustration we take newspaper representations of the 2011 German social and policy response to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. The study illustrates the inter-related role of affect, identity and symbolic meaning-making in the public response to a sociotechnical landscape shock.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101710
JournalEnergy Research and Social Science
Volume69
Number of pages12
ISSN2214-6296
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11.2020

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Jörg Hügel

Publications

  1. Warum Computerspieler mit dem Computer spielen
  2. Capability of social life cycle assessment for analyzing the artisanal small-scale gold mining sector—case study in the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil
  3. Issues and Research Opportunities in Environmental Accounting
  4. Loan managers’ trust and credit access for SMEs
  5. Are levels of democracy affected by mass attitudes? Testing attainment and sustainment effects on democracy
  6. Offene Rituale in der Gruppenarbeit mit Kindern
  7. Small Input Devices Used by the Elderly -
  8. TROLLS, MAGICIANS, THE POWER AND OTHER MIRACULOUS ADVENTURES - A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO INTERACTIVE COMPUTER FAIRY-TALES
  9. Implementing education for sustainable development in the German school system
  10. Magnesium alloy containing silver for degradable biomedical implants
  11. LGVT
  12. VIPs in der Lesesozialisation ?
  13. Smartphone = Smart Learning? Englischlernen per App und Co.
  14. Entrepreneurial orientation and business performance
  15. The new US horizontal merger guidelines
  16. Plea Bargaining/Settlement of Cartel Cases
  17. Process data from electronic textbooks indicate students' classroom engagement
  18. (Re)Folding Zagreb
  19. Kommunikative Vermittlung des Imaginären
  20. Pete Rock
  21. Kant meets Minkowski
  22. Internet
  23. Thesaurieren
  24. Modifizierte Rückschlagspiele
  25. Informal Learning and Entrepreneurial Success
  26. Gender Differences in Grip-Strength Depending on Arousal and Valence of Emotions
  27. Governance Transfer by Regional Organizations
  28. Nómades que imaginan
  29. Wie gesprochen werden?
  30. Learning or leaning
  31. Artistic Research in Popular Music
  32. Is seashell powder suitable for phosphate recovery from fermentation broth?