| Title: |
Imagining subjects, worlds and futures: Introducing Ernst Bloch's philosophy |
| Authors: |
Sander, Oliver; Marvakis, Athanasios; Egede, Gustav; Bechmann Jensen, Torben |
| Source: |
Sander, O, Marvakis, A, Egede, G & Bechmann Jensen, T 2026, 'Imagining subjects, worlds and futures: Introducing Ernst Bloch's philosophy', Theory & Psychology. |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Aalborg University (AAU): Publications / Aalborg Universitet: Publikationer |
| Description: |
The notion of imagined futures has recently received increased attention within social psychological theory and methodology (cf. e.g. Power, 2023; Rajala; 2022; Zittoun & Gillespie, 2016). However, we argue that this area of psychological research in large part has omitted the, perhaps, most influential utopian philosopher of the 20th century, namely the German Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch (1995). Though referred to in utopian studies and occasionally in critical social psychology, such as Nordic-German Critical Psychology, Bloch’s theoretical contributions have yet to be examined systematically in relation to imagined futures. In this article, we present an overview of Bloch’s main ideas on utopia, hope, imagination and subjectivity more broadly as well as their relevance for sociocultural psychology on imagined futures theoretically and methodologically. We show how researching imagined futures is inherently political, which should not only be recognized abstractly, but concretely worked through and with. The work of Bloch offers a critical philosophical foundation, giving rise to a theoretical rearticulation of imagined futures (cf. Holzkamp, 1992) and certain methodological possibilities, enabling us to actively use the future as a steppingstone in a critical methodological practice focusing on critiquing ideology and expansion of agency. This allows us to understand the ideological dimension of imagined futures dialectically, rather than just adding ideology as an abstract layer on top of an apolitical psychological core. By drawing on empirical qualitative work conducted with young drug users, we present a prototype (cf. Nissen, 2009) how these methodological possibilities can come to fruition in practice research focusing on using imagined futures to foster agency. Our hope is that the ideas of Bloch can act as a source of inspiration for future work on imagined futures within sociocultural social psychology. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
Danish |
| ISSN: |
0959-3543; 1461-7447 |
| Relation: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/0959-3543; info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1461-7447 |
| Availability: |
https://vbn.aau.dk/da/publications/ad309536-4072-4177-a614-1e45676d8118 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.2F6C29EB |
| Database: |
BASE |