Paper short abstract:

Pressing societal problems such as climate change, energy security and demographic transitions are not simply given but have specific trajectories. Distinguishing between phenomena and discourses, the paper illustrates how these problems have become stabilized as “grand challenges”.

Paper long abstract:

Pressing societal problems such as climate change, energy security and demographic transitions are nowadays famously framed as "grand challenges". Far from being real representations of states of uncertainty, what constitutes a "problem" and what counts as a "solution" varies across time and context. In our contribution, we propose to follow the trajectories of some prominent "grand challenges". By distinguishing between assemblages of phenomena and changing discourses, we trace their origin and transformations, as well as the proposed solutions through history and through various social and cultural contexts.

In our view, a problem emerges from an unstable relation between phenomenon and discourse. Since this relation needs to be constantly stabilized, problems themselves are elusive and fragile. On the one hand, when we attempt to fix a phenomenon, we observe different historical and cultural framings. For example, societies were always exposed to resource scarcity of some kind. Yet it was only in the 20th century, under specific sociotechnical conditions, that notions such as "energy crisis" or "energy security" became relevant boundary objects linking science, policy, and the economy. On the other hand, the same discourse can denote different phenomena. For example, "demographic change" has always been perceived as problematic, but the phenomena it denotes in various contexts range from the threat of overpopulation to consequences of ageing and shrinking populations.

In our paper we present three case studies that reconstruct the trajectories of prominent problems: climate change, energy security, and demographic transitions. By doing so we historicize the concept of "grand challenges".