Back from the future: a narrative approach to study the imagination of personal futures. Issue 4 (3rd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sools, Anneke
• Is Part Of: International journal of social research methodology. Volume 23:Issue 4(2020)
• Page Start: 451
• Page End: 465
• Publication Date: 2020-07-03
• Subjects: Narrative -- anticipation -- future imagination -- life writing -- possible selves; Sociology -- Research -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1080/13645579.2020.1719617
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1364-5579

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article responds to the call for prospective methodologies in the social sciences by developing a narrative approach to study the imagination of personal futures. The approach encompasses an analytical framework regarding dimensions of projectivity and an elicitation method ( Letters from the Future) . Using an example letter from a study about post-Referendum futures in Greece, the article draws on psychological, sociological, and futures studies research to elucidate key issues in projectivity research. The article clarifies potentials and challenges in three thematic clusters: (1) Balancing clarity and reach concerns the quality of narrative accounts of the future and proposes techniques for eliciting personally meaningful accounts; (2) The experience and meaning of time foregrounds narrative sense-making involved in imagining the future, thereby highlighting futures thinking as cultural capacity; (3) Engaging spaces of the possible foregrounds imagination in (co-)constructing narratives of and from the future. Finally, the article reviews strengths and limitations.