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When the social, environmental, and energy crises of the 1970s unfolded, the automobile system was well established in the French society. It was notably the subject of research that ultimately constituted the field of transportation socioeconomics, which generated expert knowledge on the subject. However, in response to the crisis, policymakers chose to promote other types of knowledge, practical knowledge, such as how to make driving more energy-efficient. This paper argues that this is how the gap between expert knowledge and mobility policy in France emerged, and fueled the impossibility of energy de-escalation for mobility practices increasingly rooted in car dependency. This article is a translation by Arby Gharibian of the original in French : “L’impossible désescalade des mobilités dans la France des années 1970 : la crise énergétique et la distanciation entre savoirs experts et pratiques automobiles”, Revue d’histoire de l’énergie / Journal of Energy History, n°13, 2025.

When the social, environmental, and energy crises of the 1970s unfolded, the automobile system was well established in the French society. It was notably the subject of research that ultimately constituted the field of transportation socioeconomics, which generated expert knowledge on the subject. However, in response to the crisis, policymakers chose to promote other types of knowledge, practical knowledge, such as how to make driving more energy-efficient. This paper argues that this is how the gap between expert knowledge and mobility policy in France emerged, and fueled the impossibility of energy de-escalation for mobility practices increasingly rooted in car dependency. This article is a translation by Arby Gharibian of the original in French : “L’impossible désescalade des mobilités dans la France des années 1970 : la crise énergétique et la distanciation entre savoirs experts et pratiques automobiles”, Revue d’histoire de l’énergie / Journal of Energy History, n°13, 2025.