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This handbook examines the relationship between energy and society, across both macro- and micro-scales, in the context of the climate crisis. Featuring an extensive examination of current research in the field from fifty expert international contributors, it offers important insights into the interconnections between the globally organised fossil fuel energy system and the changing structures of society. Structured in four thematic parts, the handbook begins with an analysis of the evolution of large-scale energy production and consumption using coal, oil and gas. Chapters then explore social divisions and inequalities in energy systems in different countries, before moving on to discuss energy governance, policy and politics, along with strategies to achieve transformation. In the final part, the book investigates forms of knowledge, stories and public engagement being used to remake energy futures, concluding that social sciences are identifying the inter-locking societal and technical changes needed to enable rapid systemic changes in energy.

ENERGY POLICY--SOCIAL ASPECTS

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Governments in liberal democracies pursue social welfare, but in many different ways. The wellbeing approach instead asks: Why not focus directly on increasing measured human happiness? Why not try to improve people’s overall quality of life, as it is subjectively seen by citizens themselves?The radical implications of this stance include shifting attention to previously neglected areas (such as mental health and ‘social infrastructure’ services) and developing defensible measures of overall wellbeing or quality of life indicators. Can one ‘master’ concept of wellbeing work to create more holism in policy-making? Or should we stick with multiple metrics? These debates have been live in relation to an alternative ‘capacities’ approaches, and they are well-developed in health policymaking. Most recently, the connections between wellbeing and political participation have come into sharper focus.Wellbeing remains a contested concept, one that can be interpreted and used differently, with consequences for how it is incorporated into policy decisions. By bringing together scholars from economics, psychology and behavioural science, philosophy and political science, the authors explore how different disciplinary approaches can contribute to the study of wellbeing and how this can shape policy priorities.

Wellbeing; Policy; Social justice; COVID-19; Inequality

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Germany; social policy, social law, social security in general.

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The ambition of the Scottish Government is to create a wealthier and fairer nation. Following the devolution acts of 1998, 2012 and 2016, it has extensive powers and resources to fulfill its ambition. This interdisciplinary collection of essays asks how it can be achieved, given the range of powers available, economic constraints, institutions and public support. Looking at economic policy, taxation and welfare, it provides a realistic analysis of the opportunities and constraints facing a small, devolved nation. After years of debate on what powers Scotland should have, this book examines how they might be used to shape the country's future.

Scotland --- Economic conditions. --- Social conditions. --- POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare.

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What does it mean to “speak for the social” in projects of technical and infrastructural change? This is the problem that the contributors to Speaking for the Social: A Catalogue of Methods set out to explore through a series of creative interventions that reimagine the role for qualitative social science in understanding and shaping design and engineering projects. The book departs from familiar methods like interviews, surveys, and participant observations, to propose walks, exhibitions, performances, dialogues, online museums, meetings, and staged performances as an array of alternative ways of thinking about and eliciting the social implications of infrastructure projects.Prompted both by a turn to infrastructure and material relations in social research and the concern with social impact and social value in technical projects, this book seeks to outline new ways for social scientists to engage with, critique, and participate in infrastructure design. The chapters build on theoretical attention to the social life of objects like roads, buildings, cities, and environments to devise practical methods that can help make social issues newly visible in infrastructure projects. Individually the entries offer a range of practical methods for “speaking for the social” in technical infrastructure projects. Taken together the book lays the ground for new kinds of collaborative, applied social research embedded in the latest discussions in social theory to explore how social value, impact, and responsibility might be rethought and achieved in the process of designing and engineering social change.

Social theory --- Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography --- artistic research;ethnography;experimental methodologies;infrastructure;public policy;social change