The future in crisis

In a crisis, the future appears to many people to be intangible and difficult to grasp. For social science research, however, imagined futures are important for understanding how crises progress. Expectations play a central role in the different stages of a crisis. As the examples of the 2007 financial crisis, the Brexit vote, and the current coronavirus pandemic all demonstrate, socio-political and economic concepts for the future are as crucial to overcoming a crisis as vaccines or emergency assistance from the state.