The Rhetoric of Energy Darwinism: Neoliberal Piety and Market Autonomy in Economic Discourse

Bloomfield, Emma Frances

doi:10.1080/02773945.2019.1634831

Cited by 17 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…However, it is largely a sophistic tool for those adhering to a specific common-sense narrative since the narrative itself is ultimately built around a fiction. This approach also helps to mask the deep inequalities behind what Bloomfield (2019) describes as 'neoliberal piety'. Also, free-market ideologies convince us that we have very little collective agency to change or resist these normative constructs.…”

Section: Defining Citizenship: Neoliberal Discourse Mattersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen or consumer? Reconsidering energy citizenship

Lennon

Dunphy

Gaffney

et al. 2019

Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning

120

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The transition to more sustainable energy systems has set about redefining the social roles and responsibilities of citizens. Implicit in this are expectations around participation, though the precise contours of what this might mean remain open. Debates around the energy transition have been skewed towards a normative construct of what it means to be a 'good citizen', the parameters for which are shaped by predetermined visions of statist and/or market-driven determinations of the energy systems of the future. This article argues that concepts such as 'energy citizen' are co-opted to reflect popular neoliberal discourses, and ignore crucial questions of unequal agency and access to resources. Paradoxically, official discourses that push responsibility for the energy transition onto the 'citizen-as-consumer' effectively remove agency from citizens, leaving them largely disconnected and disempowered. Consequently, energy citizenship needs to be reconceptualised to incorporate more collective and inclusive contexts for action. Considering how much energy consumption occurs in (traditionally female) domestic spheres, do conventional notions of citizenship (especially with regards to its associated rights and duties) need to be recalibrated in order for the concept to be usefully applied to the energy transition?

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Section: Defining Citizenship: Neoliberal Discourse Mattersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen or consumer? Reconsidering energy citizenship

Lennon

Dunphy

Gaffney

et al. 2019

Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly, participant 11 said that nuclear energy does not "have a level [financial] playing field for producing power and electricity, " but if it were level, "nuclear would probably win." Not only does this perspective reject phronesis, but it also reduces energy decision-making solely to a matter of markets and economic competition (Bloomfield, 2019b).…”

Section: Costmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topical Analysis of Nuclear Experts' Perceptions of Publics, Nuclear Energy, and Sustainable Futures

Patenaude

Bloomfield

2022

Front. Commun.

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Nuclear energy experts consider commercial power from fission to be a strong contender to help mitigate the increasing effects of climate change, in part due to its low-to-no carbon emissions. Nevertheless, nuclear energy's history, including meltdowns such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, and dumping in sacred Indigenous land such as Yucca Mountain, raises important concerns in public deliberation over nuclear power. These communicative dynamics are crucial to study because they inform larger conversations in communication scholarship about the role of experts in scientific controversies and the complicated nature of public trust in and engagement with science. Thus, this study explores the perspectives of experts and how they make sense of their own communicative practices through a topical analysis of semi-structured interviews with 12 nuclear scientists and engineers in the United States and Canada. Our analysis revealed four major topoi: (1) risk and safety, (2) government and policy, and (3) public education and engagement, and (4) cost, along which nuclear experts make sense of science-public boundaries and their role as scientists and scientist citizens. This paper extends our understanding and how scientists view themselves as communicative actors and the barriers and opportunities for how we can foster productive technical-public relationships around climate change solutions.

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“…Additionally, Dixon et al (2017) found that identifying with free market values improved conservatives’ climate change acceptance, thereby overcoming “persuasion barriers” to climate change deliberation (p. 531). Burke’s theories, and specifically identification, have previously been applied in the analysis of both environmental rhetoric (Bloomfield, 2019b; Boyle & LeMieux, 2017; Coupe, 2001; Wess, 2006) and survey data (Bloomfield, 2020).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Establishing Intimacy and Consubstantiality on Group Discussions About Climate Change Solutions

Bloomfield

Swol

Chang

et al. 2020

Science Communication

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The many obstacles to productive climate change communication necessitate new approaches. Based on science communication strategies that promote engagement rather than knowledge transfer, we assigned participants ( N = 329) to randomized chat groups that discussed similarities between group members (intimacy condition) or information about climate change (information condition). This study combined Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and rhetorical analysis and found that groups in the intimacy condition were more likely to exhibit commonality than groups in the information condition. This study offers practical strategies for having productive discussions on controversial scientific topics such as climate change.

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The Rhetoric of Energy Darwinism: Neoliberal Piety and Market Autonomy in Economic Discourse

Cited by 17 publications

References 48 publications

Citizen or consumer? Reconsidering energy citizenship

Citizen or consumer? Reconsidering energy citizenship

Topical Analysis of Nuclear Experts' Perceptions of Publics, Nuclear Energy, and Sustainable Futures

The Effects of Establishing Intimacy and Consubstantiality on Group Discussions About Climate Change Solutions

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