Energy

2023-12-14

Thematic issue edited by Roman Chymkowski, Włodzimierz K. Pessel, and Agata Stasik

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 31 January 2024.

Sociology is the child of nineteenth-century industrial society. This society would not exist without fundamental changes in the economies of the most industrialised Western countries propelled by machines powered by energy obtained from the combustion of coal or oil. The origin of sociology and its primary object, modernity owed its shape to the harnessing of these energy sources. Without control over new energy sources, there would be no world as we know it: no industrialisation or urbanisation, class society, globalisation, no modern transportation like railroads, cars, or airplanes, no consumer technology in our homes. Understood in this way, modernisation furthermore entails the material infrastructure of geopolitical relations, which binds states through networks of interdependencies reliant on transmission of energy and the raw materials that allow for its production.

Armed with historical experience, we are now facing another energy transition – or even revolution – but this time it will be a carefully planned transition driven by the need to halt global warming. If the plan succeeds, new ways of generating, transmitting, and storing energy will not only replace the existing ones but also change how entire societies function: whether one wants to participate in the change or not, it will unavoidably affect every area of life. The question remains open of how the transition will change social practices, identities, interests, and the balance of power between social groups and countries, including the centre–periphery dimension. Many believe that this is the new task for sociology: to describe and foster the transition process. This issue of State of Affairs explores what social sciences could contribute to furthering our understanding of the social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of the transition process.

We are calling for the submission of proposals for texts in the following thematic areas:

energy sources and transitions in the history of thought and in social theory;
the role of sociology in transdisciplinary research on energy and energy transition;
social consequences of the energy transition or revolution, including the transitioning of post-carbon regions, energy justice, just transition, energy poverty;
dilemmas of the empowerment of society, individuals, and communities through participation in the energy transition;
the (im)possibility of the governance of the energy transition;
energy infrastructure and the web of geopolitical relations;
energy resources and (neo)colonialism, including new energy sources in the perspective of centre–periphery relations;
energy infrastructure elements as non-human actors.

/// The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2024. Submissions containing the title, an abstract of no more than 500 words, and the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and email address, should be sent to: redakcja@stanrzeczy.edu.pl

/// The editors will inform the authors of the acceptance or rejection of their abstracts by 12 February 2024.

/// Articles, not exceeding 1.5 sheets (60,000 characters) and edited according to the technical requirements of the journal, should be submitted by 15 June 2024.

/// At the beginning of July 2024, the editors are planning a seminar for the authors, which will provide a chance to discuss the articles among the authors and editors before they are submitted to reviewers. We will expect to receive the final versions of the texts by the end of July.

/// The issue is scheduled to be published in December 2024.