Modelling Energy and Society: Theory and Method in Assessing the Social Effects of Energy Policies. Volume Two. Social Meanings of Energy. Final Report

摘要

The feasibility of a society/energy model was demonstrated which, when completed, may be used to monitor and to forecast the social effects of energy policies. The introductory chapter of this volume provides a philosophical grounding for relating social scientific concepts to social policy, in general. This chapter establishes a logical basis for the feasibility of the model. Also, guidelines are provided for interpretation of social activities and rules for conceptualizing those activities in several institutional contexts, religious, political and economic, and in the energy social system itself. Specific chapters are entitled: A Critique and an Approach to an Energy-Society Model; The Idea of Knowledge for Social Management; The Religious Interpretation of Natural Objects; The Role of Physical Objects in Political Institutions; Economic Significances of Physical Objects; Energy as an Environmental Issue; Energy in Society; and Aggregate Social Indicator Data. (ERA citation 06:023625)