The Futures Research Directory

The World Future Society is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization concerned with how people will live in the coming decades. Founded in 1966, the Society currently has over 25,000 members worldwide. Individuals and groups from all nations are eligible to join the Society and participate in its programs and activities. The Society publishes a number of periodicals and books, sponsors local chapters, and holds conferences and assemblies. The publications include THE FUTURIST, a bimonthly magazine reporting trends, forecasts, and ideas about the future; FUTURE SURVEY, a monthly digest of abstracts of futures-relevant literature; and FUTURES RESEARCH QUARTERLY, a professional journal providing information on more technical future-oriented topics. The Society also maintains a unique bookstore that enables members to purchase future-related books, cassette recordings of Society conference sessions, videocassettes, and more, all at special member prices. Chapters of the World Future Society are active in both the United States and abroad. Chapters offer speakers, educational courses, seminars, and other opportunities for members in local areas to meet and work together. World Future Society conferences and general assemblies provide opportunities to hear and meet many outstanding thinkers. The Society's next major conference will be held in Washington, B.C., in August 1989.

Futures studies is a new field of inquiry involving systematic and explicit thinking about alternative futures. It aims to demystify the future, make possibilities for the future more known to us, and increase human control over the future. This book summarizes and expands contributions of futurists to the envisioning power and well-being of humanity. Bell brings together futurist intellectual tools, describing and explaining not only the methods, but also the nature, concepts, theories, and exemplars of the field.Foundations of Futures Studies fulfills Bell's five main purposes for writing this two-volume effort: (1) to show that futures studies, like other fields from anthropology to zoology, exists as an identifiable sphere of intellectual activity; (2) to create a teaching instrument that can be used as a basic text for core courses in futures studies; (3) to futurize the thinking of specialists in other disciplines; (4) to contribute to the further development and improvement of futures studies; and (5) to provide tools to empower both ordinary people and leaders to act in ways that create better futures for themselves and their societies. Bell maintains that despite its sometimes doomsday rhetorical style and widespread use by special interests, futures studies offers hope for the future of humanity and concrete ways of realizing that hope in the real world of our everyday lives. It will appeal to all interested in futures studies, as well as sociologists, economists, political scientists, and historians.