Agency and structure in a sociotechnical transition: Hydrogen fuel cells, conjunctural knowledge and structuration in Europe

Abstract

Despite each level of the multilevel perspective of sociotechnical transitions reflecting a different degree of structuration, structuration perspectives have been little used to help explain sociotechnical change and stasis. Here we show how ‘strong structuration’ can be used to theorise the role of agency in sociotechnical systems in a way that brings together psychological and sociological perspectives. Strong structuration gives weight not only to actors’ practices, but also to their experiences. Practices and structures are viewed as mutually influencing, as in Giddens’ original conception, but the role of situated, subjective experience is also explicitly acknowledged. Applying this perspective, we show how individual attitudes and beliefs in relation to a niche energy technology are influenced by experience of national economic and innovation policy environments, with in turn implications for expectations of action by self and others. The overall aim is to illustrate a framework that connects individual psychology to practice, with implications for sociotechnical structure. For this purpose we draw on case study data of European R&D stakeholder opinion of stationary hydrogen fuel cell applications for heat and power, focusing particularly on the contrasting situations of the UK, Germany and Spain

Active sustainability actors: A life course approach

“…For the purposes of the study, we define an active sustainability actor as someone who, in his or her professional role, actively advances the sustainability agenda. Whereas the sustainability transitions literature uses the terms “agent” and “actor” interchangeably (see, e.g., Upham et al, ), we use the term actor to explore actors' intentional actions, as the term emphasizes the act of “doing.” In parallel, drawing on sociology classics, we conceptualize agency as an individual's capability to make free choices and to impact on one's environment (Archer, ; Giddens, ). We next proceed to presenting life course theory, better known as the life course perspective.…”

“…For the purposes of the study, we define an active sustainability actor as someone who, in his or her professional role, actively advances the sustainability agenda. Whereas the sustainability transitions literature uses the terms "agent" and "actor" interchangeably (see, e.g., Upham et al, 2018), we use the term actor to explore actors' intentional actions, as the term emphasizes the act of "doing. "…”

“…Moreover, the transitions literature adopts a seemingly static view of human behavior (Pesch, 2015;van der Vleuten, 2018). Leading researchers have recently called for the need to further our appreciation of actors in sustainability transitions de Haan & Rotmans, 2018;Gazheli et al, 2015;Upham et al, 2018;Upham, Lis, Riesch, & Stankiewicz, 2015;van der Vleuten, 2018).…”

Perceiving Agency in Sustainability Transitions: A Case Study of a Police-Hospital Collaboration

“…Despite the growing body of research in this area, the link between agency and sustainability remains highly debated [11]. In addition, relevant to this present study are arguments made by researchers that most sustainable studies do not take into account psychological theories [12] or investigate behavioral dynamics [13,14]. In this paper, we maintain that the growing demand for cross-sector partnerships, the high failure rate of such collaborations [5], and lack of consensus on the role of agency in sustainability [11] increases the need for sustainability researchers to: (1) utilize broader conceptualizations of agency in their research designs and (2) explore how perceptions of agency impact the sustainability of cross-sector collaborations over time.…”

A heuristic for conceptualizing and uncovering the determinants of agency in socio-technical transitions

“…Following this perspective, transitions can be viewed as an outcome of a struggle of individual and collective agency to shape technical and institutional structures that influence the extent, pace and direction of change in socio-technical systems. Despite growing attention in the field in recent years (Patterson et al, 2017), transition studies have been criticized for their general tendency of not giving enough attention to political dimensions, actors as well as their agency and power struggles (Farla, Markard, Raven, & Coenen, 2012;Patterson et al, 2017;Shove & Walker, 2007;Smith, Voss, & Grin, 2010;Upham et al, 2018). Although the co-evolution of technologies and institutions has been extensively examined in transition studies, less attention has been paid to the interplay between institutions and actors (Fuenfschilling & Truffer, 2016).…”