The Futures We Want

The book presents in a convenient format a selection of writings by distinguished international social scientists on The Futures We Want: Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World."

Protests around the globe have challenged inequality, oppression, and ecological destruction, and have insisted on the possibility of another, better world. Intensifying uncertainties demand innovations in methods and theories. Tomorrow no longer appears as pre-determined by inevitable trends but as a rather contingent out-come of complex, typically multi-scalar dynamics that vary in their degree of contentiousness. Social actors aspire, desire, envision, expect, fear, imagine, plan, project, reject, sustain, and wage war over futures. What can sociology contribute to these broader debates? How do assumptions and aspirations about the future influence daily routines and long-term collective lives? How are risks identified, avoided, mitigated, transferred, or shared? What closes and opens the horizons of social imaginaries? How are different forces positioned to shape futures? How can the making of futures be democratized? What can be learned by comparing struggles in different countries and settings? How do emancipatory movements and everyday practices at the grassroots overcome discipline, exploitation, and misrecognition? What visions for alternative futures are imaginable, desirable, and achievable? What are viable roadmaps for social transformation? These are some of the central questions explored in this book. The book presents in convenient format a selection of writings by distinguished social scientists from the WebForum on The Futures We Want: Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World. The WebForum was established during the run-up to the International Sociological Association's Third Forum of Sociology. The contributors to this book come from around the world and approach the theme from a rich diversity of perspectives. Complementing theoretical, topical, methodological, and regional expertise, they address a wide range of sociological topics from the tiny worlds of micro situations to the broad macro dynamics affecting the entire planet.

Autorentext
Markus S. Schulz is Vice-President for Research of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and President of the Third ISA Forum of Sociology. Among his most recent English publications is the Current Sociology special issue on Future Moves: Studies in Culture, Science, and Technology. He is the founding curator of the WebForum http://futureswewant.net. Author website: http://markus-s-schulz.net.