Futures in the Making: Social Theory Perspectives and Methodological Dilemmas

efforts to aid progress and to participate in the creation of a new order i . From a different thought tradition and political context Karl Marx too sought not merely to interpret but to change the world. These first social scientists wanted to identify and shape their history in the making. They were interested not just to understand the future but also to help usher it in and play their part in creating the good life for the masses. With a subsequent focus on ‘function’, ‘structure’, ‘meaning’ and ‘action’, this normative concern with the future went out of social science favour until the 1960s when a renewed interest in the future began to flourish. The post-war ‘sociologists of the future’ reflected not only on the complexity of their subject matter but also on the impact their proposed approach would have on the role of the social investigator. This wave of interest has ebbed again and today the future is no longer at the centre of sociological thinking. With the contemporary emphasis on evidence-based science, the future lost its attractiveness as both object of study and potential subject for