Energy and Electricity in Industrial Nations: The Sociology and Technology of Energy By Allan Mazur Routledge. 2013. 248 pages. $51.95 paper, $155 hardback.

The specters of climate change and resource depletion menacing our hydrocarbon-based civilization present comprehensive problems that cannot be reduced to purely technological terms. The energy systems we rely on are embedded in, and reinforced by, an entire way of life. Barriers to massive change in those systems are therefore just as likely to be social, cultural, and institutional as they are technological. And wholesale change in energy systems may require large-scale social change. The problem of energy therefore presents an opportunity for social scientists to provide an integrative expertise, based on a deep knowledge of the social and technical dimensions of energy. This compact book by Allan Mazur, who is trained in engineering and sociology, is a contribution to building those new interdisciplinary experts. And the book is organized around that purpose. A first chapter makes the critical point that our civilization, particularly in the affluent industrial nations, presupposes the extensive use of millions of years of accumulated plant matter fossilized below Earth's surface. The stage is set for consideration of our current energy dilemmas as civilizational dilemmas, raising questions for the continued industrialization of the globe and the survival of industrial society. Ultimately, the 200 to 300 years of industrialization have provided only a temporary break from the Malthusian trap, and the hard limits on growth imposed by finite resources are once again asserting themselves.