Materials, Technology and Society: contributions from a sociological perspective

d’Andrea, Luciano; Declich, Andrea

doi:10.1051/mattech/2014031

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Furthermore, because of their importance and characteristics as economic actors SMEs and their orientations are important for achieving a better knowledge of the social cycle of materials [1,9], especially in relation to the possibility of directing it towards the pursuit of environmental objectives such as energy saving and the CE. Therefore, the big issue, in this framework, concerns the obstacles met by economic actors like SMEs in the practice of CE and innovation in the field of materials.…”

Section: Connections Between Energy Efficiency Circular Economy and Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Materials are a special type of technology and, as such, are the result of a social construction process [1,2]. From this angle, they should be thought also by considering the actors involved in the process of their development and use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The paper is based on the first results emerging from the EC funded INNOVEAS project 1 , in the framework of which a study has been carried out concerning the noneconomic factors that facilitate or prevent the adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs) and, in this framework, of Energy Audits (EAs) by SMEs 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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SME’s, energy efficiency, innovation: a reflection on materials and energy transition emerging from a research on SMEs and the practice of Energy Audit

Declich¹,

Quinti²,

Signore³

2020

Matériaux & Techniques

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The paper presents some results emerging from the EC funded INNOVEAS project, particularly from a study on the non-economic factors that prevent (or facilitate) the adoption of energy efficiency measures and energy audits by SMEs. This study and its results are relevant for a reflection on the role of SMEs for the adoption of new business practices and technologies (including materials) that are conducive to a green transition. Attention will be paid also to those obstacles and facilitating factors that are relevant for the promotion of the circular economy – which is also, in fact, a strategy for achieving energy efficiency. The paper is based on the view that materials are a special type of technology and, as such, are the result of a social construction process. From this angle, materials can be thought of also by considering the actors involved in the process of their development and use. The life cycle of materials, in particular, must be analyzed also considering the role that different actors play in it; not only the technical characteristics of the materials have to be considered, but also the social context of development and application of materials. Such assumptions can be used also for interpreting the role of the actors in the challenges that contemporary societies are facing, particularly the promotion of energy saving and of the circular economy and more generally the transition towards decarbonization and dematerialization. In this paper, the focus is on a particular type of actors, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). They constitute a plethora of economic actors operating in numerous production sectors and at different levels of the value chains. SMEs orientations are important for achieving a better knowledge of the cycle of materials, especially in relation to the possibility of directing it towards the pursuit of environmental objectives such as energy saving and the circular economy. The paper stresses that considering the role of SMEs in such wide social and economic innovation process should illustrate peculiar aspects of the “internal” life of SMEs (culture, organizational skills, etc.) as well as the interaction with other actors within the context of operation of SMEs.

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Section: Connections Between Energy Efficiency Circular Economy and Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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SME’s, energy efficiency, innovation: a reflection on materials and energy transition emerging from a research on SMEs and the practice of Energy Audit

Declich¹,

Quinti²,

Signore³

2020

Matériaux & Techniques

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“…For utilitarians, a family of consequentialists, "Right actions are those that would produce the greatest balance of pleasure over pain" [49]. Peter Singer [73], "has argued that the interests of all the sentient beings 16 [thus humans and non-humans alike] affected by an action should be taken equally into consideration in assessing the action" [49]. Giving more weight to human beings is a kind of speciesism, an attitude as arbitrary as sexism or racism.…”

Section: More Radical Approaches: Ecofeminism Ecocriticism and Sociamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The further concept of Social Cycle of Materials was proposed by sociologists to describe how materials innovation takes place and by focusing on the social actors, which intervene in the process [15]: "we might initially think of 4 types of actors that are fully part of the social cycle of materials, inasmuch as they have a great importance in producing social and economic impacts in a broad sense and influence the development of materials. These actors include those who belong to the world of scientific and technological research, those involved in the management of environmental dynamics, those involved in the design and implementation of policies, and what we commonly refer to as civil society (quote from [16])". The point of extending LCT through a critical analysis external to the domains of LCA and of technology, is to go beyond what the discipline can offer from its own methodological resources, particularly as far as externalities (like environmental issues) are concerned, as well as risks.…”

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confidence: 99%

The environment and materials, from the standpoints of ethics, social sciences, law and politics

Birat

2019

Matériaux & Techniques

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Materials are deeply connected with the environment, because they stem from raw materials extracted from the geosphere, rely on large amounts of energy and of water in their production stage, project emissions to air, water and soil when their ores (or minerals) are mined, when they are made in steel mills or cement kilns, including very significant amounts of greenhouse gases. They also contribute to emissions and energy consumption of the artifacts of which they are part, either consumption or investment goods. Their connection with the biosphere raises many issues, in terms of toxicology, ecotoxicology or biodiversity or simply of public health or in the working place. Materials, as an essential part of the anthroposphere, interact deeply with the anthroposphere itself but also with the biosphere, the geosphere, the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, thus with nature in a general way through mechanisms which can no longer simply be described at the margin, as resource depletion or as pollution. This raises issues related to the sustainability of materials in human activities, in which they are deeply immersed and entangled. The standard way of dealing with these environmental issues is to invoke sustainability and to explain that all actors are engaged in sustainable development, a morals or an ethics that points in which direction to go: all players in the materials field, industry, institutions and research, claim allegiance to sustainable development. At a more technical level, specific tools like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are used extensively to measure the interaction of materials with the environment. This, however, is not enough to deal properly with the environmental issues of materials, because these issues are not marginal any longer: the anthroposphere has become so large with respect to the biosphere, the geosphere and the planet in general that environmental risk is now part of modern life, especially in connection with climate change and the loss of biodiversity. To go deeper in analyzing the connection of human activities with nature, it is therefore necessary to reach out to SSH (Social Science and Humanities) disciplines and particularly to environmental ethics. This is a prerequisite for materials scientists (and others) to act decisively in the future in the face of the danger that lies ahead of us. The present paper reviews the advances of environmental ethics, a fairly young discipline born in the 1970s, in as far as it can help all actors on the world anthropospheric theater choose their lines for the future in a more conscious and sophisticated way than simply claiming obedience to sustainability. We will review briefly intellectual forerunners of the discipline like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Henri David Thoreau, Rachel Carson or Paul Ehrlich. This will help flesh out well-known concepts like the precautionary principle or the “polluter-pays” principle, which are invoked in creating new materials or new processes to keep pollution and health issues under control, as part of the constraints of professional ethics but also of environmental law. It will be necessary to question to whom or to what the key concept of intrinsic value is attached: people, all living organisms or ecosystems, i.e. the environment in general, and thus to define anthropocentrism, biocentrism and ecocentrism. Environmental law and the ethics of sustainable development are still mainly anthropocentric while scientific ecology is more clearly ecocentric. To tackle the challenges of environmental issues as they are posed today and to avoid catastrophes, it might be necessary in the future for all social players and for people of the world of materials to follow the steps of environmental ethics and to move up from anthropocentrism to the broader vision of ecocentrism.

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Energy Transition, Anticipation and Change: A Study on the Anticipatory Experiences of the Low Carbon Society

Caiati

Quinti

d’Andrea

2019

Anticipation, Agency and Complexity

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Materials, Technology and Society: contributions from a sociological perspective

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

SME’s, energy efficiency, innovation: a reflection on materials and energy transition emerging from a research on SMEs and the practice of Energy Audit

SME’s, energy efficiency, innovation: a reflection on materials and energy transition emerging from a research on SMEs and the practice of Energy Audit

The environment and materials, from the standpoints of ethics, social sciences, law and politics

Energy Transition, Anticipation and Change: A Study on the Anticipatory Experiences of the Low Carbon Society

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