The Energy Social System

Abstract

An array of economic markets in mineral resources is being displaced by a politically dominated energy social system. International energy decisions are now part of regular diplomatic activity. Growing governmental involvement in energy activities has contributed to politicizing relations among energy suppliers and energy consumers within nations. The environmental and energy social movements are expressions of conflict between social strata. Energy and environment issues are selected and acted upon in the context of this wider political confrontation. The debate between "growth" and "steady state" reflects the struggle between two forms of utopian ideology within the energy social system. Two effects of the emergence of the energy social system are: (1) a redrawing of the axes of alliance and conflict among national states and among groups within states; and (2) the reduction in the supremacy of the capitalist market as a cultural institution in favor of political action governing resource allocation.