MAKING PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE - THE POSSIBLE, THE PROBABLE, AND THE PREFERABLE

Relying only on explanations based on impersonal social forces and cul tural imperatives that are viewed as inevitably leading to particular human behaviors is incomplete social analysis. Any adequate theory of modem society must include people as active, purposeful, and innovativ e beings whose future-oriented behavior helps create not only their ow n future but also the social order itself: Social research directed at the investigation of such human agency contributes to our knowledge o f futures thinking and accountability. Although people produce consequ ences for which they ought to be held accountable, they often do so on ly more or less competently. Their competence can be improved by teach ing them the principles of futures thinking. They can become more resp onsible actors by learning to search more fully for possible futures, to forecast probable futures more accurately, and to make judgments of preferable futures more objectively.