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The making of power shortage: The sociotechnical imaginary of nationalist high modernism and its pragmatic rationality in electricity planning in Taiwan

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The making of power shortage: The sociotechnical imaginary of nationalist high modernism and its pragmatic rationality in electricity planning in Taiwan. / Yang, Chih Yuan; Szerszynski, Bronislaw; Wynne, Brian.
In: East Asian Science, Technology and Society, Vol. 12, No. 3, 01.09.2018, p. 277-308.

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@article{aaf18a38336c465fbb00653f2c87507e,
title = "The making of power shortage: The sociotechnical imaginary of nationalist high modernism and its pragmatic rationality in electricity planning in Taiwan",
abstract = "High modernism, the dominant sociotechnical imagination in postwar Taiwan, manifested in tacit answers to the questions of what a better society would look like and the most pragmatic and viable approach to make the particular dreamed-of future become reality. This article explores the exclusion of alternative energy futures brought about by a high modernist imaginary. This imaginary underlies a strategy of emphasizing shortage at present and prosperity in the future—as long as the current shortage is solved in a reliable way. Focusing on the contention over energy supply between 2011 and 2015, this article provides an analysis of how power shortages are presented in discursive ambiguity, how the claimed crisis over the electricity shortage moves to the center of public debate via the institutional practices of power rationing, and how its public authority is established through collective witness. Renewable energy is continually represented as an “immature” and “unviable” technology when it comes to satisfying the nation{\textquoteright}s need, through particular routinized practices in the calculation of “reserve margins” in electricity planning and the collective witnessing of (limited) operating reserves. We argue that both of these come with their own assumptions and political implications and therefore invite scrutiny.",
keywords = "Habituated expertise, Power shortage, Sociotechnical imaginaries, Technopolitics",
author = "Yang, {Chih Yuan} and Bronislaw Szerszynski and Brian Wynne",
note = "{\textcopyright} 2018 Duke University Press. All Rights Reserved",
year = "2018",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1215/18752160-4386762",
language = "English",
volume = "12",
pages = "277--308",
journal = "East Asian Science, Technology and Society",
issn = "1875-2160",
publisher = "Duke University Press",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The making of power shortage

T2 - The sociotechnical imaginary of nationalist high modernism and its pragmatic rationality in electricity planning in Taiwan

AU - Yang, Chih Yuan

AU - Szerszynski, Bronislaw

AU - Wynne, Brian

N1 - © 2018 Duke University Press. All Rights Reserved

PY - 2018/9/1

Y1 - 2018/9/1

N2 - High modernism, the dominant sociotechnical imagination in postwar Taiwan, manifested in tacit answers to the questions of what a better society would look like and the most pragmatic and viable approach to make the particular dreamed-of future become reality. This article explores the exclusion of alternative energy futures brought about by a high modernist imaginary. This imaginary underlies a strategy of emphasizing shortage at present and prosperity in the future—as long as the current shortage is solved in a reliable way. Focusing on the contention over energy supply between 2011 and 2015, this article provides an analysis of how power shortages are presented in discursive ambiguity, how the claimed crisis over the electricity shortage moves to the center of public debate via the institutional practices of power rationing, and how its public authority is established through collective witness. Renewable energy is continually represented as an “immature” and “unviable” technology when it comes to satisfying the nation’s need, through particular routinized practices in the calculation of “reserve margins” in electricity planning and the collective witnessing of (limited) operating reserves. We argue that both of these come with their own assumptions and political implications and therefore invite scrutiny.

AB - High modernism, the dominant sociotechnical imagination in postwar Taiwan, manifested in tacit answers to the questions of what a better society would look like and the most pragmatic and viable approach to make the particular dreamed-of future become reality. This article explores the exclusion of alternative energy futures brought about by a high modernist imaginary. This imaginary underlies a strategy of emphasizing shortage at present and prosperity in the future—as long as the current shortage is solved in a reliable way. Focusing on the contention over energy supply between 2011 and 2015, this article provides an analysis of how power shortages are presented in discursive ambiguity, how the claimed crisis over the electricity shortage moves to the center of public debate via the institutional practices of power rationing, and how its public authority is established through collective witness. Renewable energy is continually represented as an “immature” and “unviable” technology when it comes to satisfying the nation’s need, through particular routinized practices in the calculation of “reserve margins” in electricity planning and the collective witnessing of (limited) operating reserves. We argue that both of these come with their own assumptions and political implications and therefore invite scrutiny.

KW - Habituated expertise

KW - Power shortage

KW - Sociotechnical imaginaries

KW - Technopolitics

U2 - 10.1215/18752160-4386762

DO - 10.1215/18752160-4386762

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85057507429

VL - 12

SP - 277

EP - 308

JO - East Asian Science, Technology and Society

JF - East Asian Science, Technology and Society

SN - 1875-2160

IS - 3

ER -