Imagining the future after crisis: science and environmental imaginaries in the Anthropocene

Brajdić Vuković, Marija and Puđak, Jelena (2026) Imagining the future after crisis: science and environmental imaginaries in the Anthropocene. Journal of futures studies. ISSN 1027-6084

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Abstract

IN ENGLISH: This article examines how scientists construct imaginaries of societal futures amid converging crises—pandemics, climate change, and zoonotic spillover. Drawing on ten semi-structured interviews across disciplines, we identify six recurrent narrative modes: dystopian warnings, modest utopias, and present extrapolations, reflections on failed futures, data-driven projections, and conditional planning. Using Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), we situate these modes across four nested layers, litany, systemic drivers, disciplinary worldviews, and cultural metaphors, showing how institutional logics, epistemic cultures, and affective registers shape what futures become thinkable and actionable. Rather than techno-optimism, these imaginaries exhibit ambivalence and relational reasoning. The study contributes to futures studies and STS by applying CLA to scientists’ narrative practices, situating scientific imagination within epistemic cultures, and highlighting the plural, contested character of anticipatory knowledge in the Anthropocene. --------------- IN CROATIAN: Ovaj rad istražuje kako znanstvenici konstruiraju imaginarije društvenih budućnosti u kontekstu međusobno povezanih kriza — pandemija, klimatskih promjena i zoonotskog prelijevanja patogena. Na temelju deset polustrukturiranih intervjua provedenih u različitim disciplinama identificiramo šest ponavljajućih narativnih obrazaca: distopijska upozorenja, umjerene utopije i ekstrapolacije sadašnjosti, refleksije o neuspjelim budućnostima, projekcije temeljene na podacima te uvjetno planiranje. Primjenom metode slojevite kauzalne analize (Causal Layered Analysis – CLA) smještamo ove obrasce unutar četiri međusobno ugniježđena sloja, litaničke razine, sistemskih pokretača, disciplinarnih svjetonazora i kulturnih metafora, pokazujući kako institucionalne logike, epistemičke kulture i afektivni registri oblikuju koje budućnosti postaju zamislive i djelotvorne. Umjesto tehnološkog optimizma, ovi imaginariji pokazuju ambivalentnost i relacijsko rezoniranje. Istraživanje doprinosi studijima budućnosti i području STS-a primjenom CLA pristupa na narativne prakse znanstvenika, smještanjem znanstvene imaginacije unutar epistemičkih kultura te isticanjem pluralnog i osporavanog karaktera anticipacijskog znanja u Antropocenu.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Language: English. - Title in Croatian: Zamišljanje budućnosti nakon krize: znanstveni i okolišni imaginariji u antropocenu.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Futures thinking, sociotechnical imaginaries, zoonotic risks, epistemic cultures, climate imaginaries (promišljanje budućnosti, sociotehnički imaginariji, zoonotski rizici, epistemičke kulture, klimatski imaginariji)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Depositing User:	Karolina
Date Deposited:	16 Feb 2026 13:05
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2026 13:05
URI:	http://idiprints.knjiznica.idi.hr/id/eprint/1292

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