ABSTRACT
Social change can be thus perceived as “a push-pull process in which a society is at once pulled forward by its own magnetic images of an idealized future and pushed from behind by its realized past.” The image of the future, as the collective expression of a desire for a better world, is the driving force behind the process of historical change. Just as the genetically patterned ends contained in the structure of DNA guide and direct the unfolding potential of the organism, the image of the future organizes and guides the sequence of events that leads to its realization. “The primary forces in history are not propelled by a system of production; nor by individual or military might but rather by the underlying ideas, ideals, values, and norms that manage to achieve mass appeal.” The authentic image of the future both grows out of and contains an image of the past.
