Imagined Futures - Hope, Risk and Uncertainty

This book presents the findings of a recent interview-based study of how 28 young adults living in Melbourne, Australia viewed and related to both the personal and societal future. In so doing it addresses issues such as how individuals imagine the future of their society, and whether this has any bearing on the way in which they perceive and relate to their own, personal future. The respondents' future imaginings are also considered in relation to influential theoretical accounts that have sought to diagnose the character of contemporary society, and with it the future horizon. Drawing on this discussion, some alternative ways of conceptualising micro experiences of future-oriented thinking are proposed, and the role that hope can play in this process is addressed. This book will appeal to readers who are interested in the sociology of risk and uncertainty, time, and youth.

List of contents

1. Introduction .- 2. Diagnoses of the Future Horizon .- 3. Strategies for Relating to the Personal and Societal Future .- 4. Discourses of the Long-Term Future .- 5. Future Imaginaries in Theory and Practice .- 6. The Utility of Hope .- 7. Conclusion.

About the author

Julia Cook is a Research Fellow in the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests and publications are concerned with the sociology of youth, time, risk and uncertainty, and religion.

Summary

Demonstrates how individuals use hope as a resource for coping with concerns about the long term future within the context of their everyday lives
Considers how the future has been conceptualised in sociological work
Uses interview-based data from 28 young adults, an underrepresented demographic, in studies of future oriented behaviours 

Product details

• Authors: Julia Cook
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 25.08.2018
• EAN: 9783319880006
• ISBN: 978-3-31-988000-6
• No. of pages: 141
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 8 mm x 210 mm
• Weight: 207 g
• Illustrations: IX, 141 p. 1 illus.
• Series: Critical Studies in Risk and Uncertainty
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Miscellaneous; Soziologie, Umwelt, C, Psychologie: Emotionen, Emotion, Sociology, Family, Social groups, biotechnology, Social Sciences, The environment, Psychology: emotions, Emotions, Environmental Sociology, Environmental Social Sciences, Sociology of Family, Youth and Aging