Social Visions of Future Sustainable Societies 421disadvantaged and people confronting poverty; from activists for grassroots envi-
ronmental action, for community empowerment, for indigenous rights – and any
number of other sites of activism. The engagement of activists and the participa-
tion of those often left out of the discussion (and especially those vulnerable groups
who may disproportionately bear global environmental risks) will broaden the set
of questions to be asked. Visions generated from the bottom are sure to challenge
the view from the top.
Content: humanities and popular culture
Incorporating social science will bring neglected issues into focus, but the expan-
sion of visions should not stop there. A broader conception should also include the
humanities and even popular culture. Expanding the content of social visions to
include a wide range of community and individual structures, relations, experi-
ences and consciousnesses should draw on the richness found in literary, artistic,
philosophical and spiritual expression. And just as visions drawing on the social
sciences may gain from mainstream knowledge as well as the more innovative
fringes and from the world of experience or praxis, both formal and informal
expressions may contribute.
Can the critiques of postmodernist philosophers and literary deconstruction-
ists be directed toward the positive task of envisioning alternative social futures?
Can work by ethicists, philosophers and religious leaders on questions of indi-
vidual and societal values and aspirations, absent from much of the global-futures
discussion, make a contribution? As with social science theory and praxis, there is
value in the work of practitioners as well as that of critics in philosophy and the
arts; in artists’ works and experiences as well as the theories of critics; in the experi-
ence of mystics as well as the concepts of theologians. Artists of all kinds can offer
a diversity of communicative forms as well as creative new content.
Not only may insights into individual and social meanings be derived from
academic work in philosophy, history, literature and the arts; from the work of
writers and artists, performers and composers; but it may also come from popular
culture, traditional knowledge, folk wisdom, myths and prophecies. Work in rural
development, in women’s studies and elsewhere has shown the value of folk and
women’s knowledge (e.g. Richards, 1985; Rocheleau et al, 1996; Shiva, 1994). In
the West, popular culture has been recognized as an important source for the
expression of contemporary social values (e.g. Browne, 1984).
Broadening the pool of communicative forms
In Western discussions about the planetary future, discourse has generally occurred
in a single communicative form – scientific written texts. To the extent that an
enriched and expanded envisioning process is desired, multiple forms of expression
- including the qualitative, philosophical and artistic – must be encouraged. If the
goal of creating holistic as well as reductionist, empathetic as well as objectified