5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Current developments complicate this picture. The entry of the social sciences into debates on environmental futures leads to a pluralisation of anticipatory knowledge practices. As studies increasingly focus on politics and society, they also highlight the role of social processes and societal agency in shaping the future (Aykut et al., 2024; Engels et al., 2023). Moreover, the growth and success of climate fiction as a genre has brought (partially) positive visions of the future and complex societal transformations into public debate.

The session examines these developments and their consequences by focusing on (1) the diverse forms of anticipatory knowledge practices and future imaginaries in ecological struggles, (2) the performativity of anticipatory knowledge claims and imaginaries and their capacity to support societal agency, (3) the role and responsibility of (social) scientists engaged in such debates. The aim is to contribute to reflections on emancipatory or 'post-apocalyptic futures' (Cassegård and Thörn, 2018), which combine recognition of the loss and injustice caused by climate disasters and ecological catastrophes with aspirations for transformation and justice.