ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book distinguishes empirically based and multidisciplinary social science modes of inquiry, informed by a broad-ranging examination of the futures based discourse, policy and politics that have become an intrinsic part of the contemporary world. A paradox of cultural, social and ethical life in all societies is that it is directed towards a future that can never be observed, and never be directly acted upon, and yet is always interacting with that social life. Social and psychological life always occurs within a set of ecological systems in the broad sense. Human life involves a not always stable, and largely unpredictable, interaction among constituents of the world: the full being of embodied social actors; their imaginings; and their environments and the actions of those environments. The book presents a rich variety of perspectives on important challenges of life today and for imagined futures.
