A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

An outline of future-oriented dialectics: Conceptualising dialectical positions, trajectories and processes in the context of futures research




AuthorsAhlqvist Toni

PublisherElsevier (Commercial Publisher)

Publication year2022

JournalFutures

Journal name in sourceFUTURES

Journal acronymFUTURES

Article number 103037

Volume143

Number of pages12

ISSN0016-3287

eISSN1873-6378

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.103037

Web address https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.103037

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/176743443


Abstract

The paper outlines a dialectical approach to analyse societal tendencies by emphasising future tensions, contradictions and antagonisms. First, the theoretical baseline of the approach is a commitment to the basic tenet of dialectical thinking: a perspective of the world as a process and a becoming. Second, the approach focuses on societal and socio-technical change trajectories and various dynamics in between. Third, it is based on systems and complexity thinking, particularly the idea of a societal system consisting of various parallel and contradictory trajectories. Methodologically, the approach emphasises dialectical thinking in two lenses: positions and processes. Dialectical positionality refers to basic dialectical positions as outcomes of the dynamics between the spatiotemporal trajectories in the societal system. Dialectical processuality refers to the processual nature of future-oriented dialectics, that is, the unravelling of the spatio-temporal processes and trajectories that lead to changes in the societal system. Dialectical processes are divided into two dynamic levels: trajectory and system. The paper presents stylised examples of positions and processes on these two levels.


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Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 12:07