| This
research project is designed to produce knowledge
for sharing with people across academic disciplines
and non-academic institutions. In light of this
goal, we will be posting briefings that report
on key elements of the research, working papers
and publications as they emerge from our investigations.
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Briefings Working Papers Conference Papers Publications Other Outputs
Briefings The Briefings
generated from the Project are intended to capture
the seminal concepts investigated as the research
progresses. Comments are welcome.
Briefing
1 - This briefing is the introductory briefing
setting out the key problematique.
Briefing
2- 'Habits of Mind and Philosophical Roots'
explores some principle assumptions associated
with western socieities' dominant understanding
of and relating to the future.
Briefing 3 - 'Responsibility
for the Future' reports on research into assumptions
that guide moral behaviour and responsibility
with regard to the future.
Briefing
4 - 'Towards a New Sociology of the Future'
explores early social science approaches to
the future and a sociological perspective that
came to prominence during the 1960s in the USA.
Briefing
5 - 'Max Weber on Futurity' considers the
methodological importance of the work of social
theorist Max Weber for the scientific study
of social futures.
Briefing
6 - 'The Future Told, Tamed and Traded'
engages with explicit approaches to the future
and establishes some distinctions between traditional
and modern means to know the realm beyond experience.
Briefing
7 - 'The Living Future in Philosophy'
outlines philosophical conceptions of the future,
and distinguishes these from habits of mind that define the future in terms of the present.
Briefing
8 - 'Futurity from a Complexity Perspective'
explores the contribution made by complexity theory
to our understanding of the future, and considers whether its assumptions
enable it to encompass the social future.
Briefing
9 - 'Philosophy and Non-Reciprocal Responsibility for Futures'
outlines a futures-oriented ethics of responsibility based on the concept of care for living futures.
Briefing
10 - 'Futures Told'
outlines a comparative perspective on methods of knowing the future that shows how these different methods
imply different assumptions about who 'owns' the future.
Briefing 11 - 'Futures Tamed'
outlines continuities and discontinuities between ancient and modern modes of dealing with
three human challenges - mortality, transience and change.
Briefing
12 - 'Futures Traded'
examines the relationship between three ways of constructing the future - as open, abstract or empty -
and traces how the cultural themes of perfectibility, progress and profit make them possible.
Briefing
13 - 'Futures Transformed'
looks at how the future is transformed by social practices that mobilise the promethean power of
technology in such a way as to turn future-making into future-taking.
Briefing
14 - 'Futures Traversed'
examines how the future tends to be treated as a colonisable spatial realm beyond the
present, and how this non-temporal understanding of futurity produces unintended consequences.
Briefing 15 - 'Transition Towns and the Future of Care' discusses some conceptual relationships
between the Transition movement and the ideas of future-oriented care explored
by the In Pursuit of the Future project.
Working
Papers
Working Papers
are comprehensively written up research papers
that pre-date the final packaging of the work
for publication.
1. Minding
Futures (pdf
format) (word
format) (Working
Paper 67)
In this paper Barbara Adam addresses the
issue of responsibility for the long-term future,
a key concern that centrally informs this futures
project. It is a predominantly conceptual piece
of work that primarily speaks to academic scholars.
More practically oriented work will arise from
this theoretical base at later points of the
project's development.
2. Towards a New Sociology
of the Future (pdf
format)
This is a theoretical
piece of work that primarily speaks to academic
scholars. In this paper Barbara Adam explores
some of the very early social science approaches
to the future, and revisits a sociological perspective
that emerged in the United States during the
1960s. Adam investigates the explicit and implicit
assumptions that underpin these early normative
engagements with the social future, and asks
to what extent these still hold good today.
Where they do not, she considers some of the
changes that might be necessary for the sociology
of the future to become appropriate to the contemporary
condition. As such, it forms the basis for later
more practically oriented work of the project.
3. The Future in Max
Weber's Methodological Writings (pdf
format) (word
format)
In this paper
Barbara Adam explores Max Weber's approach to
the future. Weber is a key theorist for the
futures project as he argued that science delimits
what can and cannot be studied in the socio-cultural
sphere. Since social action is irreducibly future
oriented and scientific methodology is not suited
to the domain beyond the present this poses
a dilemma for the social sciences, which needs
our most careful attention. In this theoretical
paper Adam takes us through Weber's methodological
writings and explores the implications of his
position for a social science approach that
seeks to take the future seriously.
4. Futures Told Tamed
and Traded (pdf
format) (word
format)
In this
paper Barbara Adam explores past and present
approaches to the future. She considers how
the future has been told, tamed, traded and
transformed and how it is traversed today in
contemporary industrial societies. She differentiates
between embedded and abstract futures and shows
how an understanding of the futures as empty
is tied to both the progress and the problems
of modern societies. In her conclusion Adam
suggests that there is much to learn from the
way predecessors rendered their future more
knowable.
5. The Living Future
in Philosophy(pdf
format) (word
format)
In this
paper Chris Groves explores philosophical conceptions
of the future that avoid defining it simply
as the realm of the 'not yet', and conceptualise
it instead as an active force within the present.
Such a living future cannot simply
be annexed to the requirements of the present.
Our ethical relationship to the future has therefore
to be one that acknowledges a fundamental responsibility
to it.
6. Futurity from a Complexity
Perspective(pdf
format) (word
format)
In this
paper Barbara Adam explores the contribution
made by complexity theory to our understanding
of the future. She asks how well it is equipped to encompass futurity
within its cohesive web of key assumptions, and whether the social future
might be a complexity too far.
7. Philosophy and Non-Reciprocal
Responsibility for Futures(pdf
format) (word
format)
In this
paper Chris Groves examines the ethical assumptions behind legal conceptions of responsibility that
limit their usefulness as tools for understanding responsibility for long-term futures, and outlines an
alternative model of responsibility based on the obligation to care for emerging (living) futures. In this model,
the non-reciprocal nature of obligations to the future is shown to be a fundamental aspect of the meaning of responsibility as such.
8. Futures Told
(pdf format)
(word
format)
In this paper Barbara Adam investigates how futures have been told since time immemorial. She explores who have been and are still
thought of as experts on the future, examines the sources of their specialist knowledge and surveys the
methods employed. She shows that it matters whether the future is considered an aspect of nature or the
cosmos, a sphere that is owned by god(s), a property of the sovereign or a realm that belongs to people, and opens
up for consideration ways of knowing futures that might be appropriate to the very long-term effects produced by contemporary future-creating practices.
9. Futures Tamed
(pdf
format) (word
format)
Barbara Adam explores three human challenges - mortality, transience and change -
and investigates how they have been approached through the ages. She identifies sacred and profane practices associated with responses to
those existential threats and considers their underlying assumptions. She makes historical comparisons in
order to better understand contemporary dilemmas that arise with the immense capacity to create futures,
which is not matched by an equal ability to know outcomes and thus falls far short of appropriate care for
the long-term consequences of today's actions.
10. Futures Traded
(pdf
format) (word
format)
Chris Groves explores how the future, from being the
property of non-human actors such as gods, falls into the possession of human beings.
Dealing with three historico-cultural themes (perfectibility, progress & profit) he shows
how the future is socially constructed as (1) open to transformation,
(2) an abstract realm that can be mathematically
modelled, (3) an exchangeable commodity that can be endlessly traded
for the benefit of the present.
11. Futures Transformed
(pdf
format) (word
format)
Barbara Adam examines the ways in which
efforts to control, manage and engineer the future produce unprecedented uncertainties.
Attempts to produce the future according to a blueprint rely on de-temporalised and fragmented
knowledge practices, and future making easily becomes future taking. In order to address these
problems means taking seriously issues surrounding embeddedness and interdependence,
connectedness and social memory, processuality and futurity
12. Futures Traversed
(pdf
format) (word
format)
Barbara Adam shows how, when the future is treated like a spatial realm beyond the present, paradoxes arise that are difficult to handle with the conventional knowledge practices that dominate in the institutional spheres of contemporary industrial societies.
Conference
Papers
1. The Future Produced,
Perceived and Performed: Reading Green Futures
(pdf format)
Paper presented at 6th International Conference
on Organizational Discourse, Amsterdam, July
2004.
2. Memory of the
Future (pdf
format)
Paper presented at ISST Conference (International
Society for the Study of Time) Cambridge University,
Clare College, July 2004.
3. Futures in
the Making: Social Theory Perspectives and Methodological
Dilemmas (pdf format)
University of Minho, Braga (PT) Conference,
'The Future Cannot Begin', 25 May 2005
4. Futures in
the Making: Contemporary Practices and Sociological
Challenges (pdf
format)
ASA 2005, Philadelphia, Thematic Session: 'Sociology
of the Future', 13-16 August 2005
5. The Future - A
Complexity too far for Social Science Research? (pdf format)
Paper presented as part of Social Theory Stream,
Complexity Science & Society Conference, University
of Liverpool , 11-14 September 2005
6. Teleology Without
Telos: Deleuze and Jonas on the Living Future
(pdf format)
Paper presented at Causality and Motivation
Workshop, MittelEuropa Foundation, Bolzano,
Italy, 20-21 April 2006
7. The Politics
of Posterity: Techno-futures Made, Mapped and
Minded (pdf
format)
Paper presented at Shifting Politics, An International Workshop, University of Groningen, April 20 -22, 2006
8. Leere und Gelebte
Zeit - Über den Umgang mit Zukunft
(in German) (pdf
format)
Paper presented at Zeit der Zukunft –
Über den Umgang mit Nichtwissen, Zeitakademie des Tutzinger Projekts "Ökologie der Zeit"
April 28-30, 2006
9. Futurescapes:
Challenge for Social and Management Sciences
(pdf
format)
Paper presented at Retroscapes and Futurescapes - Temporal
Tensions in Organizations, Palazzo d' Aumale, Terrasini, 21 - 23
June, 2006
10. Technological Futures and Non-Reciprocal Responsibility
(pdf
format)
Paper presented at Fourth International Conference on New Directions
in the Humanities, University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia,
3-6 July 2006
11. Has the Future Already Happened?
(pdf
format)
Paper presented at Future Matters, Cardiff University, 3-6 September 2006
12. Care, Commitment and Non-reciprocal Responsibility
(pdf
format)
Paper presented at Future Matters, Cardiff University, 3-6 September 2006
13. Taking Responsibility for the Future: Care and Value Conflicts
(pdf
format)
Paper presented at Conflict and Identity:
On Conflict Resolution , Two-Day Workshop,
Department of Philosophy, Aarhus University,
Denmark, 23-24 November 2006
14. Futures Made, Mapped and Minded
(pdf
format)
Pre-Conference workshop, Making Sense of the Future
, Lucerne, Switzerland, November 22 - 24, 2006
15. Negotiating Futures: Action, Knowledge, Ethics
(pdf
format)
International Workshop, Oslo University, Norway, 8 June 2007
16. The Humanities and the Shaping of Social Futures
International Conference of the Humanities, 17-20 July 2007
17. Social Innovation as Futures in the Making: Revealing
Implicit Assumptions
(pdf
format)
CRISES 2nd International Conference, Montreal, 8-9 November 2007
18. Future Matters
(pdf
format)
Think Club, City Canteen, Cardiff, November 2007
19. Future Matters: Action, Knowledge, Ethics.
Futures in Modernity, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany, 24-25 January 2008.
20. Menschliche Vergänglichkeit und das Streben nach Unsterblichkeit. Fundamentale Unsicherheit-Grundlage von Kultur und Religion. (pdf format)
Tagung des Tutzinger Projekts‚ 'Ökologie der Zeit': Religion - Natur - Zeit, Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, Munich, Germany, 5-6 May 2008.
21. Of Timescapes, Futurescapes and Timeprints (pdf format)
Lüneburg University, 17 June 2008
22. Matters of Life And Death: Context for Organisational Practice (pdf format)
2nd International Seminar on Time at ICI-ARC, Finitude and Decline in Organization and Management, Brest, 25 - 26 June 2008.
23. Responsibility and the Future (pdf format)
Philosophy Cafe, The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff, 15 July 2008.
24. Do We Have Responsibilites to Future Generations? (pdf format)
Philosophy Cafe, The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff, 15 July 2008.
25. Complexity, Technological Futures and Risk [link to presentation]
First ISA Forum of Sociology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 4-8 September 2008.
26. Future Matters for Sociology [link to paper]
First ISA Forum of Sociology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 4-8 September 2008.
27. Sustainable Futures Past and Present: Challenges and Opportunities [link to paper]
BRASS Seminar,'Changing the Way People Act and Relate', Cardiff University, 11 September 2008.
28. Living with Uncertainty: the Limits of'Risk Thinking' [link to paper]
Future Ethics Workshop 2: What Price Security?, Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester, 19 September 2008.
29. Future Conflicts: On The Politics of Uncertainty [link to presentation]
Transformation and the Dynamics of (Radical) Change: Insights from Political Theory and Philosophy, School of Politics, International Studies & Philosophy, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, 28-29 November 2008.
30. Green Futures for Wales [link to paper]
Science Shop Wales Conference - A Prosperous Way Down?, Cardiff City Hall, 28 January 2009.
31. Politics of Posterity: Challenge to Theory and Practice [link to paper]
Department of Geography Seminar, Durham University, 11 February 2009.
32. Future Matters: Challenge for Social Theory and Social Inquiry [link to paper]
Keynote address to Italian Sociological Association ('Culture and Communication' Group) Conference, Future Matters for Social Theory, 29 October 2009, Cagliari University, Sardinia.
33. Future Matters for Ageing Research [link to paper]
Imagining the Future Workshop, OU Centre for Ageing and Biographical Studies and Centre for Policy on Ageing, London.
34. Horizons of Care: from future imaginaries to responsible innovation [link to paper]
Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies (SNET) 4th Annual Conference 2012, 23 October 2012, University of Twente, Netherlands
Publications
1. B. Adam 2005 'Memory of Futures', KronoScope 4(1): 297-315 ISSN 1567-715x
2. C. Groves
2006 'Technological Futures and Non-Reciprocal
Responsibility', International
Journal of the Humanities 4 ISSN 1447-9559
[link
to paper]
3. C. Groves 2007 'The Humanities and the Shaping of Social Futures', International Journal of the Humanities 5(4), pp. 49-54, ISSN 1447-9559 [link to paper]
4. B. Adam
& C. Groves Future Matters: Action,
Knowledge, Ethics, Leiden: Brill,
October 2007, ISBN 978 90 04 16177 1.
5. B. Adam 2008 'Future Matters: futures known, created and minded', 21st Century Society, 3(2), pp. 111-116, ISSN 1745-0144
6. B. Adam , Guest Editor, 'Future Matters', Special Issue of 21st Century Society 3(2) June 2008, pp 109-224, ISSN 1745-0144.
7. C. Groves 2009, 'Future Ethics: Risk, Care and Non-Reciprocal Responsibility', Journal of Global Ethics 5(1), pp. 17-31. (published in tandem with a response by Professor Robin Attfield, Department of Philosophy, Cardiff) ISSN 1745-0144. [link to paper]
8. C. Groves 2009, 'Nanotechnology, Contingency and Finitude', Nanoethics 3(1), pp. 1-16. ISSN: 1871-4757. [link to paper]
9. B. Adam 2009, 'Cultural Future Matters: An exploration in the spirit of Max Weber's methodological writings', Time & Society, 18, pp. 7 - 25. ISSN: 1871-4757. [link to paper] (NB: this paper forms Part 1 of a two-part investigation. The second part, dealing with Weber's concept of ideal types, will follow soon.
10. B. Adam. 2009 'Futures
in the Making: Sociological Practice and Challenge'in
Jeffreys, V. ed. Handbook of Public Sociology.
New York: Rowan and Littlefield Publ. Inc.,
pp. 492' 448, ISBN 978-0-7425-6646-0 [link
to chapter]
11. B. Adam. 2010 'History
of the Future: Paradoxes and Challenge', Rethinking
History 14/3: 361 -378, ISSN 1364-2529
print/ISSN 1470-1154 online.
12. Groves, C. 2010 "Living
in Uncertainty: The Limits of Risk Thinking',
in Future Ethics: Climate Change and
Apocalyptic Imagination, ed. Stefan Skrimshire,
London: Continuum.
13. B. Adam. 2010 'Future Matters: Challenge for Social Theory
and Social Inquiry', Cultura e comunicazione
1: 47 -55. ISSN 2036-9700. [link
to paper]
14. B. Adam with Chris Groves
2011 'Futures Tended: Care and Future-Oriented
Responsibility', Bulletin of Science, Technology
& Society, 31(1), 17-27 ISSN 0270-4676
print, ISSN 1552-4183 online. [link
to paper]
15. B. Adam 2011 'Wendell
Bell and the Sociology of the Future: Challenges
Past, Present and Future', Futures
43: 590 -595, ISSN 0016-3287. [link
to paper]
16. C. Groves 2011 'The Political
Imaginary of Care: Singular vs Generic Futures',
Journal of International Political Theory
7: 165-189, ISSN 1755-0882. [link
to preprint] [link to final paper]
17. B. Adam 2011 'Towards
a Twenty-First-Century Sociological Engagements
with the Future', Insights 4/11, 1-18,
ISSN 1756-2074 . [link
to paper]
18. B. Adam 2012 'Sustainability
and Gender from a Time-ecological Perspective'
in Hofmeister, S., Katz, C. and Moelders, T.
(Hrsg.) Geschlechterverhaeltnisse und Nachhaltigkeit.
Die Kategorie Geschlecht in den Nachhaltigkeitswissenschaften.
Opladen: Barbara Budrich, pp.304-12 ISBN 978-3-8474-0010-3,
sISBN 978-3-86649-563-0.
Other Outputs
1. Glossary of Project Concepts
(pdf format) (word format)
2. Emzin, Ljubljana, Barbara Adam interviewed by Jana Valenčič, 2008(3-4) pp. 20 - 24 ISSN 1318-5497.
3. NEXT Brasil Barbara Adam interviewed by Fernando Serra, 2009(7), pp. 34 - 56 ISSN 1679-7922
4.B. Adam 'Globalization and the Future', Encyclopedia of Globalization, Volume 2, Georg Ritzer ed., 713-718 ISBN 9781405188241.
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