XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

464

Social Transformation and Energy Transition in Rural Context

RC24 Environment and Society (host committee)

Language: English

Social impacts from energy production are well documented in rural sociology, but we pay less attention to stories of change and transformation that are precipitated by communities themselves; how community action can transform energy systems. Imagining a world where communities are not simply victimized by forces of globalization and industrialization, but instead enjoy a sense of collective agency, this session draws inspiration from Gibson-Graham who state that “we must  strives to render a world with an ever-replenishing sense of room to move, air to breathe, and space and time to act.” With theoretically informed case studies, papers within this session will highlight collective agency, political mobilization, and the re-imagining of energy economies in local context with a focus on the role of community leadership. Case studies of novel energy systems such as small-scale wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, or other technologies are examined in this collection of papers to identify new ways of theorizing energy systems in concert with regional and territorial development. More specifically, these papers highlight challenges of moving toward more equitable and environmentally sustainable energy systems.