Futures Beyond Dystopia: Creating Social Foresight

Description

How can dystopian futures help provide the motivation to change the ways we operate day to day? Futures Beyond Dystopia takes the view that the dominant trends in the world suggest a long-term decline into unliveable Dystopian futures. The human prospect is therefore very challenging, yet the perception of dangers and dysfunctions is the first step towards dealing with them. The motivation to avoid future dangers is matched by the human need to create plans and move forward. These twin motivations can be very powerful and help to stimulate the fields of Futures Studies and Applied Foresight. This analysis of current Futures practice is split into six sections: * The Case Against Hegemony * Expanding and Deepening a Futures Frame * Futures Studies and the Integral Agenda * Social Learning through Applied Foresight * Strategies and Outlooks * The Dialectic of Foresight and Experience. This fascinating book will stimulate anyone involved in Futures work around the world and will challenge practitioners and others to re-examine many of their assumptions, methodologies and practices. BookCover Half-Title Title Copyright Contents Figures Foreword Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction PART 1 Aspects of futures enquiry Chapter 1 A twenty-first-century agenda Chapter 2 Are there futures beyond Dystopia? Chapter 3 Professional standards in futures work Part 2 The case against hegemony Chapter 4 Three pop futurist texts Chapter 5 Perils of breadth American style Part 3 Expanding and deepening a futures frame Chapter 6 Beyond the mundane Chapter 7 Changing methods and approaches in Futures Studies Part 4 Futures Studies and the integral agenda Chapter 8 Transcending flatland Chapter 9 A new framework for environmental scanning Chapter 10 Knowledge creation, futures methods and the integral agenda Chapter 11 Towards integral futures Part 5 Social learning through applied foresight Chapter 12 Futures Studies to social foresight Chapter 13 Emergence of futures into the educational mainstream Chapter 14 Creating and sustaining second-generation Institutions of Foresight Chapter 15 Foresight in a social context Part 6 Strategies and outlooks Chapter 16 A ‘great transition’ or many? Chapter 17 Futures Studies as a civilizational catalyst Conclusion The dialectic of foresight and experience Notes Annotated futures bibliography Index