In a State of Dithering - A critical realist exploration of Norwegian narratives and practices on oil, climate change and sustainability

Abstract

This thesis strives to increase understanding of what causes the continuation of dithering on the issue of climate change – that is, knowing full well the consequences of a course of action, but failing to change course. To that end, I combine the stratified view of reality from critical realism with the gramscian concepts of hegemony and common sense. I start by building a theoretical model that tries to explain the continuation of contemporary dithering on climate change by looking at the interactions of the mechanisms of society and nature through a lens of critical realism, to see how the sustainability ramifications of climate change are co-opted by and incorporated into the hegemony of neoliberal ideology using narratives of ecomodern sustainable development – premised on the conviction that technology and market forces can achieve “decoupling” of society and nature. I argue that the naturalisation of this narrative into common sense positions is what allows policy makers and people in Norway to suppress or ignore the apparent paradox of accepting a continuing growth of the oil industry as well as an increase in material throughput and consumption levels, and simultaneously acknowledging the reality of climate change and ostensibly taking a leading role in mitigation and adaptation. I test my theoretical model by analysing Norwegian policy and practices on climate change and the oil industry in order to uncover the mechanisms which reproduce them, and endeavour to understand how the paradox is resolved in daily life through analysis of empirical material collected during field work in the Dovrefjell region of the Norwegian mountains. I conclude that any interventions against further dithering on climate change that seek to break and replace common sense narratives must, following Gramsci, be contextually aware and specific, since such common sense narratives are enmeshed in historicized environments and class positions.