The aim of this article is to examine the epistemological conditions of a sociology of the future. This article offers three conditions for a grounded sociology of the future: 1) It must be more than a study of utopia and dystopia, 2) It must be able to think of the future as something rather than nothing, 3) It requires an accessible understanding of time as it pertains to emotion, imagination and reason. There are already examples of successful future oriented sociology that satisfy these conditions, but the markers of a sociology of the future are often implicit rather than explicit. Together, these conditions are necessary to transcend the limitations of speculative futurism, while offering an alternative pathway to stagnation or reactionary thinking. Where Mark Fisher has described the slow cancellation of the future (2014), and Barbara Adam and Chris Groves have described a commodification and colonisation of the future (2007: 13), this article will investigate the topic of alien
Mark-fisher
Barbara-adam
Chris-groves
Alienation
Climate-change
Dystopia
Future
Phenomenology
Dime
Utopia