After the battle: Emergent norms and the silencing of dissent in a Norwegian wind power community

Abstract

In the small municipality of Åfjord on the Norwegian coast, home to one of Europe's largest onshore wind power installations, we observed a shift in critical attitudes towards a specific wind power development plan. Initially considered legitimate standpoints within an ongoing debate over land use, these viewpoints transformed into silenced opinions, or acquiescence, as the project progressed from the planning stage to fully operational wind power plants. A demand for consensus emerged within the local community. Through qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with concerned stakeholders and community members, we employ a social norm perspective to explore the catalysts behind that shift and discuss potential consequences of the transformation. The article transcends the conventional explanatory approach to opinions on wind power development and provides valuable insights to the field of research on social acceptance. Specifically, it demonstrates that key drivers of acceptance, such as economic spin-off effects, can evolve into codes dictating legitimate behaviour and opinions in host communities. This poses a potential threat to the free exchange of opinions and local democracy.