We take samples of desirable futures and make them visible.

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We encourage futures thinking and introduce people to the fundamentals of Futures Studies.

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We support people in formulating their own desirable futures and make the range of colourful futures visible to all.

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We create thought-provoking content for alternative futures and promote the development of positive visions of society.

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No time like now: Desirable futures for (post-pandemic) tourism

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🤲Maintaining the state Gender policies and repr

🤲Maintaining the state
Gender policies and reproduction

The choice to conceive children is a personal and at the same time a deeply political one. After all, the state's continued existence depends on it. Many so-called industrial states are complaining about fertility rates dropping and, thus, society ageing accelerating. For the population to stabilize, a woman statistically needs to give birth to 2,1 children in her lifetime¹. In recent years, industrial states have missed this number, though.

But why are so many people choosing not to conceive children? Next to reasons like infertility, or the emerging climate crisis, many studies show that gender equality plays an important role here. Emancipated working women are not what is preventing childbirth², but rather “family allowances, prevalence of women’s part-time employment and length of paid leaves”³. European countries with more equitable gender roles like Sweden have higher rates (1,8) than for example Italy (1,2) where the tasks around raising children are kept within the private sphere.⁴ ⁵

Gender policies have a big influence on reproduction. To what conditions are we willing to reproduce in, then? What do we get for ‘maintaining the state’? What is our reimbursement?

~

(1)OECD (2023), Fertility rates (indicator). Retrieved from: https://data.oecd.org/pop/fertility-rates.htm
(2) Bujard, Martin (2015, July 11). Ziele der Familienpolitik. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Retrieved from: https://www.bpb.de/themen/familie/familienpolitik/194572/ziele-der-familienpolitik/
(3) Baizan, Pau; Arpino, Brund and Delclòs, Carlos Eric (2016, February 15). The Effect of Gender Policies on Fertility: The Moderating Role of Education and Normative Context. Eur J Popul. 32(1): 1–30.
(4) Hoeam, Jan (2005). Why does Sweden have such high fertility? Demographic Research Journal. Retrieved from: https://gssd.mit.edu/search-gssd/site/why-does-sweden-have-such-high-fertility-60601-sat-12-06-2014-1935
(5) Cooke, Lynn Prince (2009, January 1). Gender Equity and Fertility in Italy and Spain. Journal of Social Policy, Volume 38, Issue 1.

#reproduction #feminism #genderequality #future #futures #reproductivefutures

🌐 The future is not set in stone, and future de

🌐 The future is not set in stone, and future developments are becoming increasingly uncertain and complex. How can we navigate this uncertainty and help steer the future in a desirable direction?

In our new workshop series, Futures Snacks, we give quick yet practical insight into futuring methods for the working context to
🌈 help imagine alternative futures
🧠 analyse future developments
🎯 support decision-making processes
⛵️ better navigate uncertainty

We would be delighted to see some familiar and also new faces in our workshop series! Feel free to share the event with people who might be interested to join as well.

Find the events in our bio!

#future #futures #foresight #futuresstudies #scenario #futurescone #workshop #pestle #backcasting #uncertain #complex

One of the foundational ideas of capitalism is tha

One of the foundational ideas of capitalism is that workers produce value through their labour force. But, who produces the worker? And what kind of value does human reproduction have then?

The Social Reproduction Theory describes the complex relationship between labour and reproduction power.¹ Social reproduction observes the provision of basic conditions and processes humans –and thus, workers need to be able to live –and thus, work. This includes cooking, cleaning, taking care of children and elders etc. And even more so, it includes the biological reproduction of “new workers” to keep the system going.²

Today, regardless of where these tasks are performed, whether it is in the private or the social sphere, like kindergartens, schools or hospitals, it is still mostly women who perform them.³ And although the whole capitalist system depends on this very foundational work, these tasks are usually badly paid or just not paid at all.

As reproduction is so vital to capitalism, changes in workers’ rights can have a big impact on systemic structures. The futures of reproduction can therefore trigger and accelerate political and economic developments.³

~
📚Sources:

Vogel, Lise (1983). Marxism and the Oppression of Women. Toward a Unitary Theory. Brill.
Bhattacharya, Tithi (2017, November 22). What is Social Reproduction Theory? Pluto Press. Youtube. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/Uur-pMk7XjY
Kipka, Ronda (2019, April 26) Soziale Reproduktion im Kapitalismus. Retrieved from: https://www.marx21.de/theorie-soziale-reproduktion-kapitalismus/

#reimagine #desirablefutures #futuresprobes #futuresstudies #prospectiva #zukunftsforschung #reproduction #socialreproductiontheory #futureofreproduction #feminism #feminismo #pregnancy

Futurists we like … Dr. Isabella Hermann “Sci

Futurists we like … Dr. Isabella Hermann

“Science fiction can help us better understand the present and the future. However, we can also develop our own fictions, narratives and visions of positive, desirable and anti-disystopian futures."(1)

The political scientist Isabella Hermann is an expert in the field of Science Fiction. For her, the genre is a powerful tool that reflects assumptions, values and beliefs
in today's society. We're excited for her new book ‘Science Fiction. An introduction’ (in German) to be published in April 2023 @juniusverlag !(2)

~

📚Sources:

(1) https://www.isabella-hermann.de/
(2) https://www.junius-verlag.de/Programm/Zur-Einfuehrung/Science-Fiction-zur-Einfuehrung.html

#future #futures #sciencefiction #foresight #futuresthinking

Social Freezing – and opening up possible future

Social Freezing – and opening up possible futures?

Oocyte cryopreservation, the technical term for social freezing, describes the removal of eggs from the ovaries in order to store them for usage at a later point in time.(1) The procedure was formerly reserved for patients with medical conditions to keep the option to produce children of their own. Nowadays, fertility startups advertise the procedure in big campaigns, marketing them as the tool for a liberated woman, while still remaining strenuous on the body and quite expensive.(2)

So, is social freezing the enabler of reproductive emancipation or rather a trap of a capitalist working world where people with ovaries still have to decide between a career or parenthood? Every year, a woman postpones having children ‘adds approximately 10 per cent to her lifetime earnings’(3). Of course, big companies like the former Facebook and Google know of this value, offering egg freezing as an employee benefit since 2014.(4)

It seems as if the structure of the workplace is still not meeting the needs of women, and the role of men and their responsibilities are left out of the conversation.(3) Social freezing, in our perspective, is, therefore, a sticking plaster solution to structural inequality.

~

📚Sources:

1) Kinderwunsch Centrum München. Social Freezing. Retrieved from: https://ivf-muenchen.de/social-freezing/

2) Grant, Rebecca (2020, September 30). How egg freezing got rebranded as the ultimate act of self-care. The Guardian. Feminist economics. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/30/egg-freezing-self-care-pregnancy-fertility

3) Hodgson, Nichi (2020, November 16). Is egg freezing the solution to gender inequality? The Critic. Retrieved from: https://thecritic.co.uk/is-egg-freezing-the-solution-to-gender-inequality/#

4) Havertz, Rieke (2015, December 6) Is egg freezing the solution to gender inequality? taz. Retrieved from: https://taz.de/Social-Freezing-in-den-USA/!5253555/

#reimagine #desirablefutures #futuresprobes #futuresstudies #prospectiva #zukunftsforschung #reproduction #socialfreezing #futureofreproduction #fertility

✨Futures Studies … is a broad, international f

✨Futures Studies
… is a broad, international field of study that is taught in universities and is the focus of several profit and non-profit institutions. Researchers active in this field analyse images of the futures with different scientific methods and tools. Futures Studies is inter- and transdisciplinary, meaning that different scientific as well as practical knowledge is integrated when looking at issues.(1)

✨Foresight
… is often associated with the investigation of futures in companies or organisations in the context of strategy, which is why you may also have heard of Strategic Foresight, Corporate Foresight etc.(2) Methods like horizon planning, the analysis of megatrends and the development of multiple scenarios are often part of this.(3)

Futures Studies and Foresight both investigate open futures with the same methods and tools, but often in different contexts and with different intentions and goals.(2)

This post was inspired and builds on the article ‘Futures Studies, Foresight, Futurism, Futurology, Futures Thinking…What Name???’ by @alexfergnani , thank you! We absolutely encourage you to read it (link in bio!).

As always, we are fallible but provide our information to the best of our knowledge and belief. If you have any new findings, we would be happy to hear from you!

📚Sources:

(1) Zukunftsforschung. Retrieved from: https://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/v/master-zukunftsforschung/zukunftsforschung/index.html

(2) Fergnani, Alex (2020, May 1). Futures Studies, Foresight, Futurism, Futurology, Futures Thinking…What Name???. Retrieved from: ’https://medium.com/predict/futures-studies-foresight-futurism-futurology-futures-thinking-what-name-3b3863ceab8c

(3) OECD. Strategic Foresight. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/strategic-foresight/whatisforesight/

(4) Sardar, Z. (2010). The Namesake: Futures; futures studies; futurology; futuristic; foresight — What’s in a name? Futures, 42(3): 177–184.

#reimagine #desirablefutures #futuresprobes #futuresstudies #prospectiva #zukunftsforschung #futurosdeseables #foresight #futureresearch

Tomorrow is International Women's Day and and a re

Tomorrow is International Women's Day and and a reminder for us to be grateful for and supportive of all the women in our lives (and in our team).

Tomorrow we'll be honouring the past successes of women's rights movements, while also thinking of the many fights (and revolutions) for gender equality, freedom and (reproductive) justice happening right now – and the ones still to come.

If you have the means, time, space and courage to join a demonstration or make your voices heard especially loud tomorrow, please do! ❤️

#womensday #feminism #feministfutures #feministfuture #reproductiverights #genderequality

🥳 For all you German-speakers living in Berlin

🥳 For all you German-speakers living in Berlin who want to see and listen to some real life women futurists – Zukunftsforscherin.de is hosting an analogue event called "Tag der Zukunftsforscherinnen" on March 9, starting at 6 PM in Berlin-Kreuzberg. If you're interested you can get yourself a free ticket on Eventbrite.

Eventbrite Ticket:
https://www.eventbrite.de/e/tag-der-zukunftsforscherinnen-tickets-556078504777?aff=ebdssbdestsearch&keep_tld=1

Some of us Futures Probies will also be in the audience, come say hi! 🙂

#zukunftsforschung #zukünfte #zukunftsforscherin