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CenSES annual report 2014
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2014 dissertation: Sara Heidenreich, NTNU
Sara Heidenreich defended her PhD thesis in October 2014
at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture.
Her thesis “Blowing in the wind: The socialization of
o shore wind technology” deals with the socialization of
the emerging o shore wind technology in Norway.
In particular, it focuses on two potential agents of
socialization, news media and scientists.
The development of renewable energy technologies is a
widely acknowledged strategy to address climate change.
However, for a successful implementation of technology,
socialization, i.e. embedding the technology into society, is
crucial.
The rst paper, Dingpolitik at Sea: O shore wind energy
in the news media discourse, focuses on news media as
socialization agents. Siting renewable energy o shore is
often considered a solution to implementation problems
onshore, as it is “out of sight, out of mind”. By analyzing the
Norwegian news media discourse on o shore wind energy,
this paper investigates whether moving wind turbines at
sea really prevents controversy. It nds that although media
coverage is largely positive, still, o shore wind energy is
contested mainly within economic, environmental and
moral frameworks. Further, values and concerns rather than
facts are contested in the media debate, while the
technology, in its physical form, is blackboxed.
The second paper, Sublime technology and object of fear:
O shore wind scientists assessing publics, and the third
paper, Outreaching, outsourcing, and disembedding: How
o shore wind scientists consider their engagement with
the public, address o shore wind scientists as socialization
agents. They study the scientists’ imaginings of the public(s)
and their socialization strategies.
The ndings indicate that the scientists construct
ambivalent narratives about the public(s). The continued
presence of narratives of a negative public in the context
of a technology that is supposed to be “out of sight, out of
mind,” could be understood as an act of othering the public.
Moreover, most scientists did not embrace their role as
agents of socialization. Rather, the strategies of outsourcing
the socialization to other actors and of disembedded
technology development, i.e. declaring socialization
unnecessary, are common.
The thesis highlights the important role of the media
both as agent of and arena for socialization. Furthermore,
considering the hesitance among scientists to act as agents
of socialization, it suggests that other actors may be more
suitable agents of socialization. It also points to the
signi cance of the “out of sight, out of mind”motive which
is used to construct socialization as irrelevant and disembed
technology development. Hence, the new trend to produce
renewable energy at sea may present new challenges for its
socialization.