Jenny Andersson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- August 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198820802
- eISBN:
- 9780191860430
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198820802.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
The Arctic region is the site of a geopolitical scramble for two major future assets: the opening up of the Northeast Passage and access to enormous gas reserves. Meanwhile, many other possible ...
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The Arctic region is the site of a geopolitical scramble for two major future assets: the opening up of the Northeast Passage and access to enormous gas reserves. Meanwhile, many other possible futures define the ongoing struggle to establish claims to the Arctic among a variety of ‘Arctic nations’, including the rights of indigenous people, the preservation of pristine nature, future tourism, and the reestablishing of historical connections with previous colonizing countries in Scandinavia and Russia. The chapter discusses a wide repertoire of future making, including scenario gaming, forecast technologies, and forms of nation branding used as geopolitical instruments for defining expectations and future interests in the Arctic. At a theoretical level, the chapter examines the mutual constitution of imaginaries and interests and highlights ways in which actors attempt to ‘close’ the future by establishing the dominance of particular expectations or scenarios that suit their interests.Less
The Arctic region is the site of a geopolitical scramble for two major future assets: the opening up of the Northeast Passage and access to enormous gas reserves. Meanwhile, many other possible futures define the ongoing struggle to establish claims to the Arctic among a variety of ‘Arctic nations’, including the rights of indigenous people, the preservation of pristine nature, future tourism, and the reestablishing of historical connections with previous colonizing countries in Scandinavia and Russia. The chapter discusses a wide repertoire of future making, including scenario gaming, forecast technologies, and forms of nation branding used as geopolitical instruments for defining expectations and future interests in the Arctic. At a theoretical level, the chapter examines the mutual constitution of imaginaries and interests and highlights ways in which actors attempt to ‘close’ the future by establishing the dominance of particular expectations or scenarios that suit their interests.
Michael K. MacKenzie
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- August 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197557150
- eISBN:
- 9780197557181
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197557150.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter provides the conceptual groundwork for a deliberative theory of future-regarding collective action. The first section introduces terms that have to do with thinking and acting ...
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This chapter provides the conceptual groundwork for a deliberative theory of future-regarding collective action. The first section introduces terms that have to do with thinking and acting temporally, such as “future-regarding” and “future publics.” The second section focuses on the concept of “future-making.” It is argued that we must act collectively in order to make the futures that we think we might want for our ourselves and future others. We must use political power to marshal and redirect the future-making forces that are otherwise likely to make our futures for us: societal drift, general inadvertence, invention (e.g., technological developments), market forces, and the actions of the rich and the powerful. The last section of the chapter provides working definitions of the terms “politics,” “democracy,” and “deliberation.” It is possible to create deliberative conditions that incentivize pragmatic political actors to channel strategic intent into talk and persuasion.Less
This chapter provides the conceptual groundwork for a deliberative theory of future-regarding collective action. The first section introduces terms that have to do with thinking and acting temporally, such as “future-regarding” and “future publics.” The second section focuses on the concept of “future-making.” It is argued that we must act collectively in order to make the futures that we think we might want for our ourselves and future others. We must use political power to marshal and redirect the future-making forces that are otherwise likely to make our futures for us: societal drift, general inadvertence, invention (e.g., technological developments), market forces, and the actions of the rich and the powerful. The last section of the chapter provides working definitions of the terms “politics,” “democracy,” and “deliberation.” It is possible to create deliberative conditions that incentivize pragmatic political actors to channel strategic intent into talk and persuasion.
Jo Vergunst and Helen Graham
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447345299
- eISBN:
- 9781447345343
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447345299.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Methodology and Statistics
This introductory chapter provides an overview of heritage as community research. Many scholars have explored how discursive processes shape the past and how the past is understood in the present, ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of heritage as community research. Many scholars have explored how discursive processes shape the past and how the past is understood in the present, deconstructing the ‘Authorised Heritage Discourse’ of professional museums and official heritage sites. From the point of view of the communities involved with heritage through research, it is not simply about discursively arguing against a mainstream interpretation of the past, but about making their own way into an exploration of the past. While the cases in this book function on the ‘local’ level in one sense, they are considerably more than just local history. Instead, they locate what may be much broader processes in specific situations of places and people. Framing this work as ‘inquiry’ draws attention to the ways in which ‘ways of knowing’ are also ways of acting in the world, ways of creating change and using the past for future-making.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of heritage as community research. Many scholars have explored how discursive processes shape the past and how the past is understood in the present, deconstructing the ‘Authorised Heritage Discourse’ of professional museums and official heritage sites. From the point of view of the communities involved with heritage through research, it is not simply about discursively arguing against a mainstream interpretation of the past, but about making their own way into an exploration of the past. While the cases in this book function on the ‘local’ level in one sense, they are considerably more than just local history. Instead, they locate what may be much broader processes in specific situations of places and people. Framing this work as ‘inquiry’ draws attention to the ways in which ‘ways of knowing’ are also ways of acting in the world, ways of creating change and using the past for future-making.
Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226276496
- eISBN:
- 9780226276663
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226276663.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
This volume introduces the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to help explain the divergent ways in which states and societies conceptualize futures achievable through and supportive of advances ...
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This volume introduces the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to help explain the divergent ways in which states and societies conceptualize futures achievable through and supportive of advances in science and technology. Sociotechnological imaginaries add a new dimension to work in anthropology and political theory dealing with collective beliefs about social order. Work in these fields has not been properly attentive to the role of science and technology in shaping human possibilities. At the same time, sociotechnical imaginaries supplement more micro-focused work in Science and Technology Studies (STS), showing how developments in science and technology take place within wider cultural understandings of how societies ought to live, and how such developments are bound up with existing structures of normativity and power. Through a mix of case studies, together with a theoretical introduction and a synoptic conclusion, the volume demonstrates how the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries can lead to more sophisticated understandings of the politics of science and technology. The case studies illustrate how different imaginations of the goals, priorities, benefits and risks of social life are co-produced along with the construction of science and technology—at scales ranging from institutional to national to global. Chapters ask how the work of collective imagining responds to and accommodates some of the salient political challenges of modernity: democracy, the expert/lay divide, novel understandings of life, public ethics, and institutional accountability. The book thereby opens up a fertile space for the comparative analysis of science, technology, politics, and political cultures, as well as for methodological cross-fertilization among diverse STS-related disciplines.Less
This volume introduces the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to help explain the divergent ways in which states and societies conceptualize futures achievable through and supportive of advances in science and technology. Sociotechnological imaginaries add a new dimension to work in anthropology and political theory dealing with collective beliefs about social order. Work in these fields has not been properly attentive to the role of science and technology in shaping human possibilities. At the same time, sociotechnical imaginaries supplement more micro-focused work in Science and Technology Studies (STS), showing how developments in science and technology take place within wider cultural understandings of how societies ought to live, and how such developments are bound up with existing structures of normativity and power. Through a mix of case studies, together with a theoretical introduction and a synoptic conclusion, the volume demonstrates how the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries can lead to more sophisticated understandings of the politics of science and technology. The case studies illustrate how different imaginations of the goals, priorities, benefits and risks of social life are co-produced along with the construction of science and technology—at scales ranging from institutional to national to global. Chapters ask how the work of collective imagining responds to and accommodates some of the salient political challenges of modernity: democracy, the expert/lay divide, novel understandings of life, public ethics, and institutional accountability. The book thereby opens up a fertile space for the comparative analysis of science, technology, politics, and political cultures, as well as for methodological cross-fertilization among diverse STS-related disciplines.
