{"title":"Can we use the open future? Preparedness and innovation in times of self-generated uncertainty","authors":"Elena Esposito","doi":"10.1177/13684310231224546","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Is the future simply open or can it be made more or less open? The awareness of the uncontrollable impact of present action on the future has recently raised a debate about the risks of innovation and rational planning. Relying on Luhmann’s concept of defuturization, the article confronts the two approaches of future-making and preparedness and proposes to combine them with reference to the management of innovation. This adds a purposeful dimension to the discourse about preparedness, aimed so far only at confronting damaging events: one can also be prepared to seize and exploit novel opportunities.","PeriodicalId":47808,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Social Theory","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Journal of Social Theory","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310231224546","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Is the future simply open or can it be made more or less open? The awareness of the uncontrollable impact of present action on the future has recently raised a debate about the risks of innovation and rational planning. Relying on Luhmann’s concept of defuturization, the article confronts the two approaches of future-making and preparedness and proposes to combine them with reference to the management of innovation. This adds a purposeful dimension to the discourse about preparedness, aimed so far only at confronting damaging events: one can also be prepared to seize and exploit novel opportunities.
期刊介绍:
An internationally respected journal with a wide-reaching conception of social theory, the European Journal of Social Theory brings together social theorists and theoretically-minded social scientists with the objective of making social theory relevant to the challenges facing the social sciences in the 21st century. The European Journal of Social Theory aims to be a worldwide forum of social thought. The Journal welcomes articles on all aspects of the social, covering the whole range of contemporary debates in social theory. Reflecting some of the commonalities in European intellectual life, contributors might discuss the theoretical contexts of issues such as the nation state, democracy, citizenship, risk; identity, social divisions, violence, gender and knowledge.