Emergent Consequences of Narrating Futures in Energy Transitions

The paper presents a general theoretical argument about narrating futures and demonstrates its validity on the topic of energy transitions. It goes beyond the perspective of social constructionism and analyzes the temporal relationship between narratives, as employed in social interactions, and the reality of structural conditions in societies. The first part combines the morphogenetic approach of Margaret Archer and the narrative hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur to conceptualize emergent consequences, clarifying the role of future-oriented narrative activity in generating these consequences and responding to them. The second part relates this theoretical framework to three modern energy transitions – the transition to coal, the post-World War II transition to nuclear power, and the contemporary transition to renewables – and shows how emergent consequences stimulate narratives of variant futures. The interlinking of interactions, narratives and structures offers a conceptual perspective suitable especially for research areas where consistent consideration of environmental, material or technological structures is indispensable.