Futures Imperfect: A Reflection on Challenges

Abstract

Social lives are lived prospectively with intent and visions of what will, could and should be. Importantly, this social futurity is not merely hoped for, expected or anticipated but it is also enacted continuously in everyday and institutional practices. To encompass this central feature in studies of social life poses significant challenges for all evidence-based knowledge systems, given that the future is not yet and as such not considered factual. This means it cannot be known with certainty. Knowledge about it therefore tends primarily to be constructed, calculated and modelled from past-based evidence. In my reflections I examine some of the difficulties and anomalies that arise for engagement with the full complexity of this fundamental aspect of existence and explore alternative modes of engagement.