POLT08005 2022 Futures of Politics and Society

General Details

Full Title
Futures of Politics and Society
Transcript Title
Futs of Pol&Soc
Code
POLT08005
Attendance
N/A %
Subject Area
POLT - Politics
Department
SOCS - Social Sciences
Level
08 - NFQ Level 8
Credit
05 - 05 Credits
Duration
Semester
Fee
Start Term
2022 - Full Academic Year 2022-23
End Term
9999 - The End of Time
Author(s)
Breda McTaggart, Brenda Feeney, John Pender
Programme Membership
SG_HJOIN_H08 202200 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sociology and Politics SG_WENGL_H08 202400 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English and Politics
Description

Futures of Politics and Society sensitizes students to the myriad challenges individuals, communities, societies and polities will possibly, probably and preferably grapple throughout the 21st Century. It undertakes this task by introducing futures, forecasting and foresight studies and situates these interdependent disciplines, with their particularistic methodological frameworks, within political science, sociology, social policy and political economy lenses all the while emphasising options open to societies in contending with the consequences of global climate change and concomitant global mega crises,the reconfiguration of the ideal of democracy along with attendant advances in artificial intelligence expert decision systems and how and in what ways these are anticipated to impact all facets of human wellbeing and welfare.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module the learner will/should be able to;

1.

Contextually demonstrate critical awareness of, situate and evaluate the evolution of futures, foresight and forecasting studies

2.

Critically and independently design and apply appropriate futures, foresight and forecasting methodologies to issues of political, ideological and theoretical significance anticipatorily

3.

Dynamically diagnose anachronistic ideational, ideological, political, economic and societal preferences and objectives and how these may be reconfigured, repurposed or jettisoned in the future

4.

Synthesise and make sense of a range of intersectional drivers of change cumulatively impacting notions of power, representation, political accountability, democracy, political theory, human rights, wellbeing and future political communities locally, nationally and globally

5.

Demonstrate creativity and originality in thinking about and responding to political, governmental, social, economic, ecological and technological disruptions and devise alternative and sustainable futures driven responses

Teaching and Learning Strategies

This module will be delivered by way of weekly lectures (x2 hours) together with a weekly 1 hour co-production workshop. Lecture topics will be presented via the development of concepts as case studies. Co-production learning opportunities directly related to both the lecture programme and the assessment strategy will be facilitated so as to support students and to underscore universal design for learning principles of learning.

Module Assessment Strategies

Students will be required to undertake: (a) a futures of politics research proposal feasibility pitch workshop and; (b) a 3000 word end of semester written report of a futures of politics relevant phenomenon/theme.

Repeat Assessments

Submission of a 3000 work written report of a futures of politics relevant phenomenon/theme other than their original assignment submission. 

Indicative Syllabus

LO1: The origins and evolution of futures studies -  (a) impact of ancient civilisations mythologies and narratives on human concepts of the future e.g. haruspication (examining entrails of sacrificial animals remains in ancient Rome); bibliomancy (random opening and reading of book chapters to foretell the future) ; cartomancy (Tarot); clairvoyance; oneiromancy; ichthyomancy; palmistry; geomancy; pyromancy. (b) World belief systems and futures e.g. Babylonian Enuma Any Enlil; Chinese I Ching ('Book of Changes'); Indian theory of Mahayugas; the Delphic and Sibylline oracles; Mayan and Aztec (cyclical or circular time). (c) representations of time e.g. cosmic time - kalpa (Hinduism and Buddhism); Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian (time as progress towards accomplishment i.e. time as arrow); Vicoian and Laszloian notions of time as spiral.(d) Western cultural and industrial hegemony and time as linearity. (e) 19th century European literary representations of futures particularly science fiction: Verne, Wells, de Chardin, Spengler, Toynbee. The impact of 'social prophets'  and emergent sociology e.g. Fourier, Saint-Simone, Owen, Belamy. The intellectual contributions of Toffler, Meadows, Bell, Kahn, Schumacher, Polak and De Jouvenel. (f) The emergence of futures 'Think Tanks' and advocacy organisations: World Future Society, World Futures Studies Federations; Rand Corporation; Institute of the Future; Digital Future Society; Brookings Institute; Institute for Futures Studies; Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.

LO2/LO5: Futures research epistemological and methodological anchors - (a) situating futures studies epistemological terrains: critical realism, post-structuralism, constructivism. (b) futures methodologies: predictive, empirical, extrapolative, cultural interpretative, anticipatory, anchored, unanchored. (c) futures data collection and evaluation techniques: 'scanned and planned', 'in the air', weak signalling, popular images, Delphi method, backcasting, horizon scanning, scenarios, driver mapping, visioning, roadmapping, axes of uncertainty.

LO3: Case Study 1: The era of the Algocracy: exploration of evolution of the notion democracy from the Greeks to the 21st Century and the emergence of artificial Intelligence (AI) and expert decision algorithms (liberal democracy, representative democracy, direct democracy, deliberative democracy, teledemocracy, post-democracy, liquid democracy, voter apathy, social media, introduction to artificial intelligence and concomitant ethical and wider societal accountability issues, expert decision systems and human engagement and participation; post-politics, post-leadership, post-representation, super collaborative government, Fukuyama revisited: beyond ideologies?). 

LO3: Case Study 2: The end of Capitalism?

LO3: Case Study 3: Anthropocene and Mega Crises

LO3: Case Study 4: Five Regional Futures towards 2052: United States of America; China, OECD, BRISE (Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and emerging countries). International relations theories and futures studies: Huntington revisited. Water and regional conflicts

LO3: Case Study 5: On personhood, human rights, surveillance and AI

LO3: Case Study 6: Beyond social contracts: models of welfare in the 2050s

LO3: Case Study 7: Whose nation once again?: Ireland in 2050

LO3: Case Study 8: Myriad political futures

LO3: Case Study 9: Technopuplism and neo-leaderships

Coursework & Assessment Breakdown

Coursework & Continuous Assessment
100 %

Coursework Assessment

Title Type Form Percent Week Learning Outcomes Assessed
1 Research proposal feasibility pitch workshop Coursework Assessment Assignment 35 % Week 5 1,2,3,5
2 3000 Word Project Write-up Project Project 65 % Week 13 1,2,3,4,5
             

Full Time Mode Workload


Type Location Description Hours Frequency Avg Workload
Lecture Tiered Classroom Weekly Lecture 1 Weekly 1.00
Workshop / Seminar Flat Classroom Weekly student led workshop 1 Weekly 1.00
Independent Learning Library Independent Learning 2 Weekly 2.00
Total Full Time Average Weekly Learner Contact Time 2.00 Hours

Required & Recommended Book List

Required Reading
2012-06-13 2052 Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN 9781603584227 ISBN-13 1603584226

Forty years ago, The Limits to Growth study addressed the grand question of how humans would adapt to the physical limitations of planet Earth. It predicted that during the first half of the 21st century the ongoing growth in the human ecological footprint would stop-either through catastrophic "overshoot and collapse"-or through well-managed "peak and decline." So, where are we now? And what does our future look like? In the book 2052, Jorgen Randers, one of the coauthors of Limits to Growth, issues a progress report and makes a forecast for the next forty years. To do this, he asked dozens of experts to weigh in with their best predictions on how our economies, energy supplies, natural resources, climate, food, fisheries, militaries, political divisions, cities, psyches, and more will take shape in the coming decades. He then synthesized those scenarios into a global forecast of life as we will most likely know it in the years ahead. The good news: we will see impressive advances in resource efficiency, and an increasing focus on human well-being rather than on per capita income growth. But this change might not come as we expect. Future growth in population and GDP, for instance, will be constrained in surprising ways-by rapid fertility decline as result of increased urbanization, productivity decline as a result of social unrest, and continuing poverty among the poorest 2 billion world citizens. Runaway global warming, too, is likely. So, how do we prepare for the years ahead? With heart, fact, and wisdom, Randers guides us along a realistic path into the future and discusses what readers can do to ensure a better life for themselves and their children during the increasing turmoil of the next forty years.

Required Reading
2020 After Shock
ISBN 0999736450 ISBN-13 9780999736456
Required Reading
2017-08-02 Foundations of Futures Studies Routledge
ISBN 1138523682 ISBN-13 9781138523685

Futures studies is a new field of inquiry involving systematic and explicit thinking about alternative futures. It aims to demystify the future, make possibilities for the future more known to us, and increase human control over the future. This book summarizes and expands contributions of futurists to the envisioning power and well-being of humanity. Bell brings together futurist intellectual tools, describing and explaining not only the methods, but also the nature, concepts, theories, and exemplars of the field. Foundations of Futures Studies fulfills Bell's five main purposes for writing this two-volume effort: (1) to show that futures studies, like other fields from anthropology to zoology, exists as an identifiable sphere of intellectual activity; (2) to create a teaching instrument that can be used as a basic text for core courses in futures studies; (3) to futurize the thinking of specialists in other disciplines; (4) to contribute to the further development and improvement of futures studies; and (5) to provide tools to empower both ordinary people and leaders to act in ways that create better futures for themselves and their societies. Bell maintains that despite its sometimes doomsday rhetorical style and widespread use by special interests, futures studies offers hope for the future of humanity and concrete ways of realizing that hope in the real world of our everyday lives. It will appeal to all interested in futures studies, as well as sociologists, economists, political scientists, and historians.

Required Reading
2017-08-02 Foundations of Futures Studies Routledge
ISBN 1138523690 ISBN-13 9781138523692

Futures studies is a new field of inquiry involving systematic and explicit thinking about alternative futures. Wendell Bell's two-volume work Foundations of Futures Studies is widely acknowledged as the fundamental work on the subject. In Volume 2, Bell goes beyond possible and probable futures to the study of preferable futures. He shows that concern with ethics, morality, and human values follows directly from the futurist purposes of discovering or inventing, examining, and proposing desirable futures. He examines moral judgments as an inescapable aspect of all decision-making and conscious action, even in the everyday lives of ordinary people. Now available in paperback with a new preface from the author, Volume 2 of Foundations of Futures Studies moves beyond cultural relativism to critical evaluation. Bell compares depictions of the good society by utopian writers, describes objective methods of moral judgment, assesses religion and law as sources of what is morally right, documents the existence of universal human values, and shows that if human beings are to thrive in the global society of the future, some human values must be changed.

Required Reading
2017-10-27 Heat, Greed and Human Need Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 9781785365119 ISBN-13 1785365118

This book builds an essential bridge between climate change and social policy. Combining ethics and human need theory with political economy and climate science, it offers a long-term, interdisciplinary analysis of the prospects for sustainable development and social justice. Beyond green growth (which assumes an unprecedented rise in the emissions efficiency of production) it envisages two further policy stages vital for rich countries: a progressive recomposition of consumption, and a post-growth ceiling on demand. An essential resource for scholars and policymakers.

Required Reading
Living together in a world transformed by tech: future politics Oxford University Press

Required Reading
2019-09-05 The AI Economy Hachette UK
ISBN 9781473696174 ISBN-13 1473696178

'A well-researched, enjoyable and thoughtful book'. - Calum Chace, Forbes Extraordinary innovations in technology promise to transform the world, but how realistic is the claim that AI will change our lives? In this much needed book the acclaimed economist Roger Bootle responds to the fascinating economic questions posed by the age of the robot, steering a path away from tech jargon and alarmism towards a rational explanation of the ways in which the AI revolution will affect us all. Tackling the implications of Artificial Intelligence on growth, productivity, inflation and the distribution of wealth and power, THE AI ECONOMY also examines coming changes to the the way we educate, work and spend our leisure time. A fundamentally optimistic view which will help you plan for changing times, this book explains AI and leads you towards a more certain future.

Required Reading
2012-03-22 The Economist: Megachange Profile Books
ISBN 9781847658050 ISBN-13 1847658059

In 2050 there will be 9.3 billion people alive - compared with 7 billion today - and the number will still be rising. The population aged over sixty-five will have more than doubled, to more than 16 per cent; China's GDP will be 80 per cent more than America's; and the number of cars on India's roads will have increased by 3,880 per cent. And, in 2050 it should be clear whether we are alone in the universe. What other megachanges can we expect - and what will their impact be? This comprehensive and compelling book will cover the most significant trends that are shaping the coming decades, with each of its twenty chapters elegantly and authoritatively outlined by Economist contributors, and rich in supporting facts and figures. It will chart the rise and fall of fertility rates across continents; how energy resources will change in light of new technology, and how different nations will deal with major developments in science and warfare. Megachange is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what the next four decades hold in store.

Required Reading
2020-12-30 The Future of Political Leadership in the Digital Age Routledge
ISBN 100313792X ISBN-13 9781003137924

"This book comprehensively describes the impact of modern technologies on political leadership by providing a new paradigm of the phenomenon of neo-leadership, that is political leadership oriented on creating both the image and political influence on the Internet. It examines its functioning in the new media environment and identifies the most important transforming trends, taking into account their impact on political and social relations in an era of dynamic technological development. Systematically exploring various dimensions of leadership, it presents new notions relevant in a networked world where leaders are created and conduct themselves against the backdrop of a technological revolution, including the development of AI, automation, algorithms and ultrafast networks, all of which strengthen or disrupt their impact and create a new set of virtual authorities exerting an increasing impact on society, ethical considerations and political life and requiring new methods for study. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of leadership and elite studies, media and communication studies, political marketing, political science, international relations; public policy, and sociology"--

Module Resources

Non ISBN Literary Resources
Journal Resources

Futures and Foresight Science

Journal of Futures Studies

Journal of European Futures Research 

Futures

URL Resources
Other Resources
Additional Information