ABSTRACT
This chapter links the general notions of cultural theory more firmly to environmentalism and energy in particular. It sets out some general linkages between different patterns and associations of cultural bias. The chapter offers a different perspective on the uses of cultural theory to analyse environmental outcomes from the one Michael Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky set out in their analysis of risk and environmental issues. In essence, cultural theory can be deployed to analyse how environmental protection and economic development can be a positive sum outcome rather than a negative compromise for the economy as implied by Douglas and Wildavsky. The chapter discusses ecological modernization (EM). It also discusses how energy objectives and preferred policy processes vary according to different types of cultural bias. The chapter summarises the implications of cultural bias for the energy field. Douglas and Wildavsky utilised cultural theory in part to help people understand that risk is a social construction driven by cultural bias.
