Advancing Futures

Book excerpt: What is Futures Studies, what are the theories and methods underlying the field? What are its basic concepts and metaphors, and how is it related to other academic fields? These are the core questions addressed in this book by a comprehensive assembly of distinguished scholars. They explore the enigma of why Futures Studies, despite its growing maturity as an intellectual endeavor, after more than three decades of groundbreaking work, still struggles for institutional acceptance. Together these contributors paint a picture of Futures Studies not so much a product of the stale intellectual heritage of the 20th century, but as a vibrant harbinger of intellectual perspectives sure to gain wider currency in the 21st. Drawing on their backgrounds in fields as diverse as political science, history, sociology, anthropology, economics, psychology, management, and human ecology, this international line-up of contributors includes world systems theorist Immanuel Wallerstein, philosopher Peter Manicas, management professor Bill Halal, and industrial sociologist Arthur Shostak.