The Oxford Handbook of Energy and Society

• Part I. Energy and Society: Key Contemporary Dynamics and Theoretical Contributions


• 1. A Time of Change, a Time for Change: Energy-Society Relations in the 21st Century


• Debra J. Davidson and Matthias Gross


• 2. Energy, Climate Change, and Global Governance: The 2015 Paris Agreement in Perspective


• John Vogler


• 3.Energy Consumption as Part of Social Practices: The Alternative Approach of Practice Theory


• Ana Horta


• 4. Analyzing the Socio-Technical Transformation of Energy Systems: The Concept of 'Sustainability Transitions'


• Harald Rohracher


• Part II. Structural/Political-Economic Perspectives: The Persistent Material and Geopolitical Relevance of Fossil Fuels


• 5. National Energy Signatures: Energetics, Money, and the Structure of the Global System


• Jalel Sager


• 6. Energy Markets and Trading


• David Mares


• 7. Raw Materialism and Socioeconomic Change in the Coal Industry


• Paul S. Ciccantell and Paul K. Gellert


• 8. The International Political Economy of Eastern European Energy Security: Russia, Ukraine, and the EU


• Jack D. Sharples


• Part III. Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Consumption Dynamics


• 9. Energy Consumption Trends Across the Globe


• Richard York


• 10. Shifts in Energy Consumption Driven by Urbanization


• Perry Sadorsky


• 11. Theorizing the Behavioral Dimension of Energy Consumption: Energy Efficiency and the Value-Action Gap


• Marilyn A. Brown and Benjamin K. Sovacool


• 12. Energy Cultures as Sociomaterial Orders of Energy


• Thomas Pfister and Martin Schweighofer


• 13. The Limits of Household Change: Structural Influences over Individual Consumption


• Janet A. Lorenzen

Debra J. Davidson is Professor of Environmental Sociology in the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology at the University of Alberta, Canada. Her primary areas of teaching and research include the social dimensions of energy food systems, with special interest in the impacts on, and the observed and potential institutional transformation in, energy and food systems due to climate change. She is co-author of Challenging Legitimacy at the Precipice of Energy Calamity, with Mike Gismondi (2011), and co-editor of Consuming Sustainability: Critical Perspectives on Socio-ecological Change, with Kirstin Hatt (2005).

Matthias Gross is Professor of Environmental Sociology at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ in Leipzig, Germany, and by joint appointment, the University of Jena, Germany. His recent research focuses on the changing role of civil society, alternative energy systems, the sociology of engineering, real world experiments, ecological design, renewable energy systems, risk and ignorance, and theories of the knowledge society. He is a founding editor of the journal Nature + Culture. Book publications in English include Ignorance and Surprise: Science, Society, and Ecological Design (2010), Renewable Energies (2014, with Rüdiger Mautz), the Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies (edited with Linsey McGoey, 2015), and Green European: Environmental Behaviour and Attitudes in Europe in a Historical and Cross-Cultural Comparative Perspective (2017, co-editor with Audrone Telesiene).

The last section discusses emerging trends and opportunities in the energy-society relationship. The authors highlight the latest sociological research and provide their analyses on a developing and growing issue that will continue to impact society. This comprehensive volume showcases the trends, challenges, and opportunities of energy issues and their influence on society. T. Chan, MIT Libraries, Choice