Social science approaches to energy technology acceptance and diffusion

Abstract

This chapter draws on the large body of work on energy technology acceptance and diffusion, to explain how these are currently approached. The literature is large and spans multiple contexts, methods, theoretical and disciplinary perspectives and paradigms. The purpose of the chapter is to provide an overview of this field as currently constituted; to explain the complementary but differing value of both psychological and sociological accounts; and to lay the ground for the next chapter, which justifies, reviews and discusses the much smaller body of work that makes a case for informing sociotechnical transition studies with specifically psychological insights. The chapter highlights both our own review work and the recent review work of others on this topic.