The Future as a Topic in Biographical Life Course Approaches

Abstract

AbstractThe relevance of a biographical approach to studies about the future is the topic of this chapter. In a discussion that takes its point of departure in theories of time and temporality, the significance of particular aspects of historical periods for what topics about the future are deemed research-worthy is addressed. The chapter addresses how ideas about Progress impacted on notions of time and temporality during earlier historical periods. Empirical studies discussed in this chapter demonstrate their embeddedness in specific circumstances and particular historical periods. These research topics thus provide insights into how changes at the structural level, be they environmental problems such as climate change, pandemics, or credit crises, in any present are woven into and become topics in individual biographical accounts. The early studies of women and time and gendered thoughts about the future, for instance, originated in a period when changes in gender relations in all areas of social life happened at a rapid pace in the Scandinavian countries in particular. The chapter shows that whilst gender, age and social class are essential analytical elements of sociological analysis that transcend historical periods, the contexts of their impact are diverse and varied.