Studying the future was never a value-neutral project. The origins of modern futures research (known in the 1950s and 60s as ‘futurology’), lies in the ideological struggle between capitalism and communism during the Cold War. On both sides of the Iron Curtain, the future was something to be managed and controlled in the service of a dominant ideology. That briefly changed in the 1970s with the emergence of more global, emancipatory futures projects like the Club of Rome and the Peace Movement. Why didn’t it last? And what ideological baggage does futurism carry with it from itsformation during the Cold War?

We discuss this fascinating history with historian Jenny Andersson, author of Future of the World: Futurology, Futurists, and the Struggle for the Post Cold War Imagination.

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Hosts: Casper Skovgaard Petersen & August Leo Liljenberg

Guest: Jenny Andersson

Published by the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies