Sarah Pink: The Edge and the Future: and Doing Social Science Forward
Sarah Pink will present her latest talk to Manchester University, 'The Edge and the Future and doing social science forward' on Wednesday 24 May (BST).
In this lecture I explore a social science agenda to work and ‘play’ in an interdisciplinary futures space; where the social sciences make a significant contribution to and shift dominant narratives and practices of anticipating, predicting and seeking to deliver futures. I argue that such an agenda is essential for a context where we are at once deep in what is termed as a ‘crisis’ of crazy politics, climate, and public health and where runaway engineering innovation proposes ill-considered technologies as solutions to societal problems. If social scientists do not create and advance a significant agenda to intervene and become players in this interdisciplinary and multi stakeholder field, the danger is not only that unrealistic and unsustainable visions of futures will continue to dominate, but also that the social sciences themselves could go into freefall as student fees increase while academic departments are closed. I will draw on the many successful examples of social science interventions in a futures space where other disciplines and stakeholders are increasingly aware of the “gaps”’ we might close, while arguing that rather than being gap fillers, we need to lead as “edge players”, and calling for a wider movement towards doing social science forward.