Paper short abstract:

This paper uses ongoing discussions on energy conservation in the Danish construction industry as a starting point to discuss how changing hierarchies of expertise and moral controversies affect the anthropologist’s role and responsibility when conducting research with industry actors.

Paper long abstract:

Energy efficiency in buildings has been a topic of discussion in Denmark since the 1970’s energy crisis, but debates have intensified with increasing concerns for the climate. Various actors in Denmark – ranging from politicians and researchers to representatives from the industry - are currently discussing how to increase energy efficiency in buildings. Questions and debates like these remind us of the need to explore new forms of collaboration across disciplines and between research and industry actors. Based on long-term fieldwork in construction companies in Denmark, this paper focuses on the politics of energy conservation and the more or less intended alliances it has created between contractors, subcontractors, and researchers within the industry. I describe ongoing negotiations of expertise between subcontractors, contractors and construction workers in the industry in order to highlight the diverse orientations and practices that not only coexist in an industry, but that are constituted in relation to each other (Yanagisako 2002). Then, I show how debates on energy conservation has reconfigured relations between professional groups and further stimulated the development of a moral discourse that categorize actors and enterprises as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Lastly, I reflect upon how anthropologists might navigate the dilemmas produced by changing hierarchies of expertise and moral controversies between actors when conducting research with industry. Directing attention to the internal dynamics of an industry is essential, I argue, as we examine the grounds upon which we might work with industry actors.