Why do we need to rethink the future? The importance of predictive social research

In traditional social science education, it's common to find a strongly static approach—one focused on analyzing social phenomena from a specific time and place. We are trained to observe what has already happened, to identify the contextual conditions in which a phenomenon emerged, and then to explain why it occurred: whether the causes were internal, external, or a mix of both. This perspective, though necessary, tends to look backward.

When a longitudinal perspective is adopted, we’re able to observe change over time: how certain trends evolve, consolidate, or fade away. From there, explanatory narratives are built—about social movements, cultural transformations, or political shifts. In many ways, this approach helps us understand what has been.

However, within this architecture of social analysis, the predictive dimension has been pushed aside. In the twenty-first century, thinking about the future almost seems like an academic eccentricity. Predictive social research, like that once conducted through methods such as the Delphi survey, has lost ground in contemporary debates. And yet, its purpose remains deeply valuable: to anticipate possible scenarios, explore emerging trends, and offer a framework for reflecting on the future consequences of present actions.

Why this loss of interest? Perhaps because we live in a time marked by absolute immediacy, where the value of information seems to be measured more by its urgency than its depth. The acceleration of social time, that feeling that everything must happen now, has left little room to stop and consider what might come next. But that speed, seductive as it is, is also misleading: it prevents us from planning, from preparing, from projecting.

Recovering the prospective dimension of social research is not just an intellectual exercise; it is an urgent necessity. In a world shaped by ecological crises, accelerated technological change, and deep demographic shifts, thinking about the future becomes a form of social responsibility. Now more than ever, we need theoretical and methodological frameworks that allow us to imagine what lies ahead, not as an act of guesswork, but as a critical, informed, and rigorous practice.

It's time to ask: what happens if we stop looking forward? What price do we pay for failing to anticipate? Perhaps it's time to reclaim the predictive—not as a passing trend, but as a compass in uncertain times.