Futures literacy and the diversity of the future
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In this paper, we argue that a key component of futures literacy is reflexivity regarding different attitudes toward the future. Various intellectual traditions and futures practices make epistemologically distinct claims about the future and its manifestations in the present. Through their different outlooks on analyzing, understanding, and influencing the future, these diverse approaches represent fundamentally different attitudes to what it means to meaningfully engage with the future. Because of this diversity of attitudes toward the future, and the different possible modes of engagement with the future, futures literacy is more complex than it appears at first glance. Looking at recent developments in futures literature, we build on four epistemologically and ontologically distinct approaches to the problem of the future. We argue that being futures literate depends on reflexivity about these different engagements with the future, and what these different approaches can offer future-oriented action respectively. Such reflexivity entails being reflexive about how different approaches to the problem of the future arise, as well as about the underlying power structures. We also investigate possibilities to cultivate this futures reflexivity and conclude with a set of questions to guide future research in deepening reflexivity as a key element of futures literacy.
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Work on futures literacy stresses the diversity of engagements with the future, and the importance of keeping multiple futures intelligible in educational practice.
“Work on futures literacy likewise stresses the diversity of engagements with the future, and the importance of keeping multiple futures intelligible in educational practice [34].”
From Hallucination as epistemic pollution: epistemic injustice and credibility in futures-oriented science education (2026) · cites this paper as [34]
The Introduction and Section 4 stress reflexivity about diverse ways of engaging with the future and about which futures remain open to consideration. The paper mentions educating people in futures literacy, but the passages do not specifically place the need to keep multiple futures intelligible in educational practice. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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Küçükuncular, A. (2026) · Discover Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1007/s44163-026-02318-5
“It also aligns with the aspiration, expressed in futures-oriented science education recommendations, that futures thinking should expand the space of possible action rather than compress it into a singular narrative of progress [4, 34].”
Influential
- Authors
- Mangnus, A. C., Oomen, J., Vervoort, J. M., & Hajer, M. A.
- Affiliations
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Oomen, Jeroen
- Venue
- Futures
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-09
- Volume
- 132
- Pages
- 102793
- ISSN
- 0016-3287 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3177112528
- Cited by
- 181
- References
- 81
- Citations by year
- 2026: 38 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 19.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Futures (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Scientific Research and Philosophical Inquiry
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Digital Education and Society
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Literacy, Media, and Education
- Keywords
- futures literacy, reflexivity, attitudes toward the future, futures studies, power structures
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