As if the Future Mattered
Subtitle: Translating Social and Economic Theory into Human Behavior (Evolving Values for a Capitalist World)
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: August 15, 1996
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780472106400
Subjects: Capitalist or free market economies; Social forecasting, futurology; United States; Future Studies; Economics (Specific Aspects); Social Science; Sociology; Business/Economics; General; Economics - General; Political Science / General; Economics; Capitalism; Environmental economics; Moral and ethical aspects
Description: Concern for the future, the issue that lies at the core of this book, has been displayed by human beings in many ways throughout history - but is more important today than ever. Among individuals, firms, and other institutions, however, there is a wide variance in how much their behavior indicates concern for the future: some act as though only concerned about tomorrow, at the furthest; others build (or refrain from destroying) as though concerned for perpetuity.

We have just come through a decade in which prevailing beliefs about how economics and social systems work, and how they should work, were especially permissive toward notions of individualism tending toward narrow selfishness, while discouraging a focus on societal interests, including concern for the future.

It is, therefore, especially relevant at this time to inquire what can be done, through changes in institutional arrangements and/or fashions of thought and perception, to support the future-regarding tendencies in human societies. The volume will be of interest to businesspeople, economists, environmentalists, political scientists, and ethicists.