Uncertain Future(s)

Abstract

In this special issue, we explore the pivotal role that the future as a social perception of time and temporality plays in dealings with uncertainty. There are four linkages between uncertainty and future, as the chapters in this special issue show: Firstly, visions of the future result from current and past interpretations of culturally embedded everyday lives. Secondly, a multitude of co-existing models of time is possible. Thirdly, actors adjust their visions of the future when present conditions change. Fourthly, present actions are directed towards a vision of the future which merely serves as a guideline rather than a potential reality. Thus, the temporality of people’s actions and imagination in uncertain times is at the fore of this special issue exploring the unfolding tension between the immediate and the imagined, the actual and the perceived.