Futures Studies

Major: International Information
Code of subject: 7.291.02.M.020
Credits: 5.00
Department: International Information
Lecturer: Petro Sukhorolskyi, PhD, Docent
Semester: 2 семестр
Mode of study: денна
Learning outcomes: knowledge of the principles, objectives, and methods of futures studies; knowledge of the history of ideas about the future and the content of key theories of futures studies; understanding of current trends and projected changes in key areas of human activity; understanding the relationships and dependencies between the different spheres of human activity in national and international context; ability to apply gained knowledge in analytical and forecasting activities; ability to combine different disciplines to make socially significant decisions; ability to select, apply and combine methods of forecasting and planning the future; ability to engage and motivate people to achieve common goals.
Required prior and related subjects: Prerequisites: – Сo-requisites: -
Summary of the subject: Futures studies as scholarly and academic discipline. Interdisciplinary foundations of futures studies. The evolution of utopian thought. Dystopian images of the future. Industrial and post-industrial theories. Understanding of global problems of mankind. Alter-globalist ideas and movements. Culture and civilization development. The crisis of culture, masses and mass culture. Technicist theories and utopias. Technologies as human extensions. Futures studies methodologies. Foresight. Causal layered analysis. Values in futures studies. Strategies for judging preferable futures.
Assessment methods and criteria: Formative assessment (40%): oral questioning, essays, presentations. Summative assessment (60%): multiple-choice tests, short answers, extended written responses.
Recommended books: Bell W. Foundations of Futures Studies: Human Science for a New Era. Vol.1: History, Purposes, and Knowledge. – New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1997. Bell W. Foundations of Futures Studies II: Values, Objectivity and the Good Society. – New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1997. Bell W. Advancing Futures: Futures Studies in Higher Education. Westport, CT: Praeger Studies on the 21st Century, 2002. Gidley J. The Metaphors of Globalisation: A Multi-Layered Analysis of Global Youth Culture // The Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) Reader: Theory and Case Studies of an Integrative and Transformative Methodology, Tamkang University Press, Taipei, Taiwan, 2004. – P. 300–314. Inayatullah S. Causal Layered Analysis: An Integrative and Transformative Theory and Method. – Futures Research Methodology. – Taipei, Taiwan, 2003. Slaughter R. The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies. – Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia: DDM Media Group, 1996.