”In the morning I just need a long
hot shower”
A Sociology of the
(Re)Distribution of the Energy Sensible
[email protected]
DEIFIED – DAMNED – DEPLETED
Munich, 1/11
Overview
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3 sociologies of energy
Energy: one meaning or many
Sensibilities and ”the political”
Some results
Conclusion
3 sociologies
• Invisible energy: Making energy visible
• Pervasive energy: Tracing systems of
provision
• A sociology of energy sensibilities
One energy or many energies?
• Energy as societal problem
– Has to be quantified and aggregated
– Has to be governed
• Energy in everyday life
– Folk theories of energy
– Rich sensual qualities (warmth, light)
– Moralities of energy consumption?
– More?
The distribution of sensibilities
• Sensibility: making sense and sensing
(Rancière)
• Distributed according to social position (situated
knowledges, Haraway)
– Ex 1: Interdisciplinary collaboration
– Ex 2: The tourist’s gaze (Urry)
– Ex 3: The leader’s gaze (Law)
• Gaps between social status and sensibility: ”the
political”
• No determinism!
Method
• Publicly enacted energy sensibilities connected
to bathrooms
– Lifestyle magazines (Bonytt 1990-2008, qualitative
analysis)
– Real estate advertisements (Finn.no 2007/08, coword
analysis)
• No naive realism: Both sources articulate
’moderate desires’
– Desire: for a new home, a new towel holder
– Moderation: the objects/practices of desire are not
completely out of reach
Results 1: Becoming visible
• Mag: Especially in the period between
1995 and 2005 bathrooms have become
publicly enacted objects of moderate
desire
• Ads: Bathrooms are proudly displayed if
they resemble the ones presented in
Bonytt
Results 2: Energy sensibilities
• Ads/Mag: Energy as societal problem is
conspicuously absent (exception: new energy
labels)
• Ads/Mag: A large room, with ceramic floor tiles,
floor heating, and lots of hot water (shifting from
whirlpools to large shower heads)
• A widely distributed bathroom energy sensibility
– Mutually reinforcing elements
– A practice articulating some of the most powerful
images of modern domesticity: hygiene/health and
relaxation/reproduction
The warmth ego network
Conclusions
• Wrong sensibilities?
• The gap between status and sensibility (= the
political): More (floor)heated space, more hot
water
• Rebound effects as logical consequence
• A host of alternative sensibilities exists
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The hygiene hypothesis: Prevent/Cure allergies
Cold water as sensation
Boost your immune system
Authenticity and individuality
• But: You cannot sell less, or can you?
Or can you?
Danish «comfort houses»