PREFERRED IMAGES OF THE FUTURE

Abstract

Our purpose in this exploratory paper is to provide a brief and highly selective summary of twentieth century attempts to construct images of desirable futures, and to offer general and largely assertive assessments of the usefulness of such images for bourgeois and socialist purposes. In this space, we can only cite from among the Western bourgeois and socialist preferred visions and make reference to Canadian examples where available. It should be noted that the social form of education is often not singled out for detailed treatment in these preferred futures. But its character is strongly implied in the general delineation of desired social forms and, almost invariably, education is appealed to as the critical strategic process for realizing the preferred future.