Automobility and Oil Vulnerability

Unfairness as Critical to Energy Transitions

in Nature and Culture
Author:
Ana Horta Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal ana.horta@ics.ulisboa.pt

Search for other papers by Ana Horta in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2921-039X
Restricted access

Abstract

Climate policies in the European Union require a substantial reduction in carbon emissions from road transport. However, in the last decades the system of automobility has expanded considerably, establishing a process of path dependence that is very difficult to reverse. Changes in current patterns of automobility may increase oil vulnerability of citizens dependent on the use of the car, aggravating forms of social inequity. Based on an analysis of how television news framed a period of oil price rises in a country highly dependent on car use, the article shows that oil vulnerability may resonate with socially shared sociocultural meanings such as lack of trust in political leaders, which may aggravate the social perception of unfairness and compromise public support for energy transitions toward sustainability.

Contributor Notes

Ana Horta is Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon (Portugal). She holds a PhD in Sociology from ISCTE-IUL (University Institute of Lisbon). She has been involved in a range of projects on energy, climate change, environmental issues, and consumption. Currently, her main research interests are focused on social practices and representations related to household energy consumption, energy poverty, energy transition, and media discourses on energy issues and climate change. She is a member of the coordination team of the Environment and Society section of the Portuguese Sociological Association. Address: Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-189 Lisbon, Portugal. E-mail: ana.horta@ics.ulisboa.pt. ORCID: 0000-0002-2921-039X.

  • Collapse
  • Expand
  • Autoridade da Concorrência [Competition Authority]. 2008. “Report by the Competition Authority on the Fuel Market in Portugal.” http://www.concorrencia.pt/SiteCollectionDocuments/Estudos_e_Publicacoes/Energia_e_Combustiveis/01_AdC_Report_Fuel_Market_versao%20inglesa_02_06_2008.pdf (accessed 13 March 2020).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Bickerstaff, Karen, Gordon Walker, and Harriet Bulkeley, ed. 2013. Energy Justice in a Changing Climate. Social Equity and Low-carbon Energy. London and New York: Zed Books.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Cabral, Manuel Villaverde. 2007. “Trust, Mobilization, and Political Representation in Portugal.” In Portugal at the Polls in 2002, ed. André Freire, Marina Costa Lobo, and Pedro Magalhães, 201221. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Carmo, Renato Miguel do, Sofia Santos, and Daniela Ferreira. 2017. “‘Unequal Mobilities’ in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area: Daily Travel Choices and Private Car Use.” Finisterra 52 (106): 2948.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Conley, Tim, and Arlene Tiger MacLaren. 2009. “Introduction.” In Car Troubles: Critical Studies of Automobility and Auto-Mobility, ed. Jim Conley and Arlene Tiger MacLaren, 117. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Dant, Tim. 2012. Television and the Moral Imaginary: Society Through the Small Screen. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Dennis, Kingsley, and John Urry. 2009. “Post-Car Mobilities.” In Conley and MacLaren, Car Troubles, 235251. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • EC (European Commission). 2019. “Sustainable Mobility: The European Green Deal.” Factsheet, 11 December. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/fs_19_6726.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Entman, Robert M. 2004. Projections of Power. Framing News, Public Opinion, and US Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Eurostat. 2019a. “Passenger Cars in the EU.” April. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title = Passenger_cars_in_the_EU (accessed 13 March 2020).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Eurostat. 2019b. “Passenger Transport Statistics.” June. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Passenger_transport_statistics (accessed 13 March 2020).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Gamson, William, and Andre Modigliani. 1989. “Media Discourse on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach.” American Journal of Sociology 95 (1): 137.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Gitlin, Todd. 1980. The Whole World Is Watching. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  • Gross, Matthias, and Rüdiger Mautz. 2015. Renewable Energies. London: Routledge.

  • Horta, Ana, Luísa Schmidt, and João Carlos Sousa. 2019. “Energy Transition, Climate Change and the Portuguese Public: Insights from an Energy Justice Lens.” Paper presented at the 14th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Manchester, United Kingdom.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Horta, Ana, Harold Wilhite, Luísa Schmidt, and Françoise Bartiaux. 2014. “Socio-technical and Cultural Approaches to Energy Consumption.” Nature + Culture 9 (2): 115121.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • IEA (International Energy Agency). 2019. “World Energy Balances 2019.” Paris: IEA. https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-balances-2019.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Jenkins, Kirsten, Darren McCauley, Raphael Heffron, Hannes Stephan, and Robert Rehner. 2016. “Energy Justice: A Conceptual Review.” Energy Research & Social Science 11: 174182.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Jenkins, Kirsten, Benjamin Sovacool, and Darren McCauley. 2018. “Humanizing Sociotechnical Transitions Through Energy Justice: An Ethical Framework for Global Transformative Change.” Energy Policy 117: 6674.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Linden, Henry R. 1996. “The Evolution of an Energy Contrarian.” Annual Review of Energy & Environment 21: 3167.

  • Lutz, Catherine. 2014. “The U.S. Car Colossus and the Production of Inequality.” American Ethnologist 41 (2): 232245.

  • Martin, George. 2009. “The Global Intensification of Motorization and Its Impacts on Urban Social Ecologies.” In Conley and MacLaren, Car Troubles, 219233. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mateus, Augusto, ed. 2013. 25 anos de Portugal europeu: A economia, a sociedade e os fundos estruturais. Lisbon: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mattioli, Giulio, Jean-Pierre Nicolas, and Carsten Gertz. 2018. “Household Transport Costs, Economic Stress and Energy Vulnerability.” Transport Policy 65: 14.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ohnmacht, Timo, Hanja Maksim, and Manfred Max Bergman, eds. 2009. Mobilities and Inequality. Cornwall: Ashgate.

  • Pereira, Alfredo Marvão, and Rui Marvão Pereira. 2015. Investimento em infraestruturas em Portugal, Vol. 1, Base de dados e factos estilizados. Lisbon: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Pordata. 2020. “Número de veículos ligeiros de passageiros por mil habitantes.” https://www.pordata.pt/Europa/Número+de+veículos+ligeiros+de+passageiros+por+mil+habitantes-3078 (accessed 13 March 2020).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Sanne, Christer. 2002. “Willing Consumers—or Locked-In? Policies for a Sustainable Consumption.” Ecological Economics 42: 273287.

  • Sheller, Mimi. 2011. “Sustainable Mobility and Mobility Justice: Towards a Twin Transition.” In Mobilities: New Perspectives on Transport and Society, ed. Margaret Grieco and John Urry, 289304. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Sheller, Mimi, and John Urry. 2000. “The City and the Car.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 24 (4): 737757.

  • Shove, Elizabeth. 2003. “Converging Conventions of Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience.” Journal of Consumer Policy 26: 395418.

  • Urry, John. 2004. “The ‘System’ of Automobility.” Theory, Culture & Society 21 (4/5): 2539.

  • UTAO (Unidade Técnica de Apoio Orçamental) [Technical Unit for Budgetary Support of the Assembly of the Republic]. 2019. Tributação de combustíveis: Estudo aprofundado e atualizado até final de 2018. Relatório UTAO n. 5/2019. Lisbon: Assembleia da República.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Vreese, Claes H. 2005. “News Framing: Theory and Typology.” Information Design Journal + Document Design 13 (1): 5162.

  • Wagner, Aleksandra. 2018. “The Role of Media Influence in Shaping Public Energy Dialogues.” In The Oxford Book of Energy and Society, ed. Debra J. Davidson and Matthias Gross, 381400. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Walks, Alan, ed. 2015. The Urban Political Economy and Ecology of Automobility: Driving Cities. London: Routledge.

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 5781 4069 421
Full Text Views 591 6 0
PDF Downloads 200 4 0