Energy, Resource Extraction and Society

Between the second half of the 2000s and the first half of the 2010s, the prospect of shale gas extraction in Europe at first prompted fervent political support, then met with local and national opposition, and was finally rendered moot by a global collapse in the oil price. In the Europe-wide protests against shale gas and the main technique employed to extract it, hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), counter-expertise played a crucial role. This kind of expertise is one of the main elements of “energy citizenship,” a concept recently developed in the field of energy humanities which describes the empowerment of citizens in decision-making processes related to energy issues. This paper provides a socio-historical analysis of the co-production of counter-expertise and energy citizenship in the two European countries endowed with the largest shale gas reserves: Poland and France. In my analysis, concerns over the disruption of the food-water-energy nexus due to possible pollution emerge as particularly important. I argue that the exchange of information between activist groups and NGOs, as well as between activist groups from distant European locations, allowed for the creation of a genuinely transnational and science-based anti-fracking movement.

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Fracking and Democracy in the United Kingdom

Szołucha¹

2022

Social Analysis

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An ongoing paradox of egalitarianism is its immanence with various forms of hierarchical organization, including within non-hierarchical social movements. However, little attention has been devoted to understanding the cascading effects of egalitarian dynamics that often manifest as anti-state and/or anti-corporate sentiments. UK anti-fracking activists challenged the state and the extractive industry on the basis of equality and justice, fundamental to their notions of democracy. Their experiences highlighted the ‘darker side’ of popular struggle because the distrust toward the government and industry overflowed and became directed inward. The personal impacts of activism and the challenges of forming non-hierarchical collectivities demonstrate the hidden backstory of egalitarian impulse that emerges from a sense of injustice and persists through personal hardship. It may also foster division, resentment, and conflict.

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Energy, Resource Extraction and Society

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

A Critical Energy Research Agenda

A Critical Energy Research Agenda

Fighting Science with Science: Counter-Expertise Production in Anti-Shale Gas Mobilizations in France and Poland

Fracking and Democracy in the United Kingdom

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