‘Hope’ in the Future

Abstract

Where to from here—what is the future of ‘hope’? Does it matter if ‘hope’ has a future? If so, how may sociologists and other social scientists advance an understanding of ‘hope’ phenomena and their implications? As I observed at the outset, throughout its history, ‘hope’ has had a mixed reception, seen variously as a source of salvation and as contributing to ‘the torment of man’. While increasingly salient and valued in the arena of health and healthcare, and more generally, ‘hope’ has been ascribed various meanings at different times and across contexts. These different ‘hopes’ involve disparate conceptions of the relationship between past, present, and future and between the actors and entities that are either the subjects or objects of hope. Thus, ‘hope’ may be oriented to another kind of world and invested in an external entity (e.g. deity), as in religious conceptions where what is hoped for is salvation, or to a better society in the distant future, as in science-based, materialist conceptions involving belief in the prospects for social change achieved through rational and technological means, or to a healthier or longer life in the near future, for those suffering illness or disability or facing death. Different conceptions of hope have different consequences, for those who are the recipients of hopeful endeavours and for those who create, promise, and promote ‘hope’, and indeed for society more generally.