One of the main psychodynamic forces that created the 20th century field of Futures Studies (FS) is
the realisation that modernisation, development, technology and so forth have progressively created
a whole new arena of options for humanity, some of which are welcome, some of which are not. In
other words, the future stopped being seen as a natural and unproblematic unfolding of forces and
structures in the past and present. Instead, it took on a new significance, linking human perceptions
of possible future states with actions and decisions progressively taken in the advancing present.
This is the promise of FS: that it gives to humanity the tools by which to choose future states worth
creating and to put in train the means by which to achieve them.
But ‘humanity’ is not a monolithic whole. It is a deeply divided and incredibly diverse family of
beings with profoundly unequal access to wealth, power and autonomy. Under these conditions, FS
has been taken up most readily by those whose present is secure - or at least relatively so.
Moreover, within those privileged enclaves, FS has been applied most fully and consistently by
those whom, as de Jouvenel pointed out some decades ago, have specific interests in ‘colonising’
the future for their own purposes. Thus, despite many progressive organisations and initiatives in
FS, the promise that FS was a gain for humanity has, to some extent, been subverted by its
appropriation by powerful groups. That this is not mere rhetoric is shown by the effective
development and wide use of futures methodologies within transnational corporations. By contrast,
governments remain wedded to short-term pragmatic thinking, and those running education systems
remain blissfully unaware of the methodological and symbolic options that FS offers them.