Mismatch or misunderstanding? Calculation and qualculation among economists and consumers in their framings of the electricity market

Abstract

This paper studies how economists engaged in energy policymaking and household consumers frame the electricity market, based on interviews with prominent energy economists and focus group interviews with household consumers. Drawing on economic sociology, above all the contribution of Michel Callon, we analyse framing processes involved in the sense-making around the electricity market, including electricity consumption and the understanding of how households act with respect to the market. We found that the interviewed economists predominantly drew on a framing of the electricity market according to their theoretical understanding of markets, considering consumers as calculative agents in a strict sense. In contrast, the interviewed consumers argued a more inclusive and complex framing of the electricity market by also emphasising moral, social and political issues. Thus, they appeared to be qualculative rather than just calculative agents. This different framing did not emerge from consumers' misunderstanding or being misinformed about market mechanisms. Rather, we observed a mismatch between the energy economists and the household consumers regarding the underlying rationality of their framings, how they perceived consumption of electricity, and what they included and excluded in the framing of the market.

Av-domestisering av teknologi – en studie av hvordan norske husholdninger avvikler sine oljetanker

“…Dette er en teknoøkonomisk beskrivelse av husholdninger som de samfunnsvitenskapelige fagene innenfor energi og miljø kontinuerlig jobber for å nyansere og utvide (se f.eks. Aune et al, 2016a;Aune et al, 2016b;Ryghaug et al, 2018). Man kan nyansere ved å innføre sosiologiske begreper for å forklare kompleksiteten i hverdagslige energivalg.…”

The qualculative dimension of healthcare data interoperability

“…14 Thus, calculations are always qualculative because they are inherently bound up with situated judgments employed by specific people, in specific organizational and institutional environments, working in specific situations. 14 Scholars have examined the qualculative practices involved in a variety of tasks, from clinical decision making 14 to evaluating the electricity market, 35 but thus far scholars have not examined the qualculative practices of applying standardized schemes and vocabularies to data to create standardized data elements. In healthcare, achieving semantic interoperability requires that all entities involved be able to exchange standardized coded data.…”

“…Scholars have examined the qualculative practices involved in a variety of tasks, from clinical decision making 14 to evaluating the electricity market, 35 but thus far scholars have not examined the qualculative practices of applying standardized schemes and vocabularies to data to create standardized data elements. In healthcare, achieving semantic interoperability requires that all entities involved be able to exchange standardized coded data.…”

Identifying Consumer Lifestyles through Their Energy Impacts: Transforming Social Science Data into Policy-Relevant Group-Level Knowledge

“…As a response to escalating environmental problems and climate change, we need society-wide transitions in a sustainable direction with respect to the production, distribution and consumption of energy and other goods [1,2]. Sustainability transition scholars have traditionally addressed these challenges by focusing primarily on systems of supply and technological innovation [3][4][5][6][7] rather than on consumption and everyday life [8][9][10]. In recent years, however, interest in the role of citizens or consumers as central agents in systemic change has increased in studies of sustainability transitions.…”