TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term country-level evidence of major but uneven ruptures in the landscape of industrial modernity
AU - Kanger, Laur
AU - Tinits, Peeter
AU - Pahker, Anna-Kati
AU - Orru, Kati
AU - Velmet, Aro
AU - Sillak, Silver
AU - Šeļa, Artjoms
AU - Mertelsmann, Olaf
AU - Tammiksaar, Erki
AU - Vaik, Kristiina
AU - Penna, Caetano C.R.
AU - Tiwari, Amaresh Kumar
AU - Lauk, Kalmer
PY - 2023/8/28
Y1 - 2023/8/28
N2 - In order to address global environmental challenges many currently dominant societal ideas, institutions and practices related to the natural environment, science, technology and innovation need to be fundamentally rethought. Drawing on the recent Deep Transitions framework, this paper focuses on whether such shifts in the fabric of industrial societies can be detected during the past 120 years. Combining the text mining of newspapers with data from existing databases, we present empirical evidence on nine pervasive and durable traits of industrial societies from five G20 countries. We detect a sea-change in environmental discourse from the 1960s and an institutional rupture from the 1980s, but only a minor shift in practices. In contrast, technoscientific institutions have changed far less, whereas techno-optimist discourse has resurged in recent decades. In addition to alleviating environmental problems, we suggest that more attention should be turned to rethinking many societally dominant assumptions about science and technology.
AB - In order to address global environmental challenges many currently dominant societal ideas, institutions and practices related to the natural environment, science, technology and innovation need to be fundamentally rethought. Drawing on the recent Deep Transitions framework, this paper focuses on whether such shifts in the fabric of industrial societies can be detected during the past 120 years. Combining the text mining of newspapers with data from existing databases, we present empirical evidence on nine pervasive and durable traits of industrial societies from five G20 countries. We detect a sea-change in environmental discourse from the 1960s and an institutional rupture from the 1980s, but only a minor shift in practices. In contrast, technoscientific institutions have changed far less, whereas techno-optimist discourse has resurged in recent decades. In addition to alleviating environmental problems, we suggest that more attention should be turned to rethinking many societally dominant assumptions about science and technology.
KW - Deep transitions
KW - Industrial modernity
KW - Ideas
KW - Institutions
KW - Practices
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85168819437&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eist.2023.100765
DO - 10.1016/j.eist.2023.100765
M3 - Article
SN - 2210-4224
VL - 48
JO - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
JF - Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
M1 - 100765
ER -