By: Wu Tzu-Ying, Wen Hua Elementary SchoolTaiwan

The purpose of futures studies is to make the world a better place and improve the welfare of all livingbeings. Alternative futures, ethics, and increasing democratic participation are parts of exploring sustainablefutures (Bell, 2003). In Sohail Inayatullah’s new book, he uses PROUT (progressive utilization theory) astheory and strategy to discover not only alternative futures, but also practical approaches to create betterfutures.

The Book’s Framework

There are six sections of the book, starting with the concepts of PROUT to issues of politics, education,society, economy and transformation. In first one, the author deconstructs PROUT to provide a new scope offutures-focused policy-making from triple bottom line to a quadruple bottom line. Neo-humanism is weavedinto theory and action to make policy processes future-oriented and deeper. The four classes in Sarkar’stheory of social change are workers, warriors, intellectuals and accumulators of capital. These are applied tounderstanding history and policy-making. Organizations and individuals can glean insights across the landscapeof institutions to selves through playing the Sarkar game, with case studies detailing and demonstrating it.

Political issues in Asia and new emerging Asian visions are presented in part two. Historical and emergingconflicts and the rise of Asia make Asian visions and futures unique. Inayatullah analyzes the present conflictsand the possible future using Sarkar’s four classes to understand the power shifts in play, with case studies ofvisions and influencers. He suggests that deeper transformations beyond geopolitics need to be explored, ratherthan re-creating copy-cat or used futures. For example, while today’s Olympic games are dominated by richnations and fueled by commercial excess, a PROUT approach would emphasize triumph through achievingone’s best and focus on creating a green Olympics.

School systems today mostly prepare students for global competitive capitalism or national economicdevelopment, instead of what it means for a someone to live a life of meaning and wellbeing. Globalization,virtualization, and “Asia-leading” are key forces that further deepen this – a form of social control. Inayatullahargues neo-humanist education is a way out of this dominant history, with a PROUT strategy needed focused onpractice. Three case studies of higher education with academic leaders are elaborated through scenarios, causallayered analysis (CLA), backcasting, narrative and Prout analysis.

In part four, Inayatullah explores the futures of crime and prisons, debates between rehabilitation andpunishment and a case study of e-health. Traditional rehabilitation and punishment is challenged, with variousnew types of crimes emerging as a result of revolutions in science and technology. Social and economic systemsneed to be changed to reduce crimes, with multi-pronged strategies for diverse offenders. The future of prisonsneeds to be reformed through soft technologies, helping offenders reintegrate with society. In health, three e-health in 2025 scenarios are provided, where the PROUT policy perspective integrates spiritualityand technology to create powerful visions for the future in this area.

In the realm of political economy, the author investigates and deconstructs six futures of theglobal financial crisis using CLA, and reconstructs them creating different solutions based onunderlying stories, worldviews, systems and visible data. As well as CLA based solutions, he arguesPROUT policy give us new pathways out of our emerging crises. The rationale for PROUTisteconomics and other economic approaches are introduced and compared. Here a unique viewpointis put forward – that learning from yoga’s ethical context and physical movements may help usimplement a more balanced and flexible world economy. In addition to triple bottom line, anotherindicator for a fourth bottom line is added and discussed.

In the final section, since PROUT is a theory as well as a vision of the future, Inayatullah listsguiding questions to help us examine organizations and social movements and evaluate whetherthey are on the path to creating better futures or not. From the PROUT perspective, climate changeis identified to be a leadership issue. This section also puts forward seven positive trends encourageus to create more positive futures. He ends by exploring alternative futures of PROUT and thestrategies needed for PROUT to be a success.

Conclusion

PROUT is an idealized socio-economic system while neo-humanism is a holistic socialphilosophy. It is noteworthy that Inayatullah allies this to alternative futures to create new narratives.The triple bottom line is applied to measure the conditions of organizations, adding a quadruplebottom line. Readers can learn about PROUT and neo-humanist theories, strategies, visions, butalso how they interact with problems and crises we encounter today and in our futures. The mostsignificant contribution of this book is solutions: from the most visible short term focused policyanswers to the unconscious level of narrative with a long term focus, many solution are presented onmany different issues. Using the PROUT perspective, Inayatullah creates powerful insights that leadto new policy pathways which should be considered as essential elements in our collective socialand global conversations for action.

Correspondence

Wu Tzu-Ying
Graduate Institute of Futures Studies, TKU Wen Hua Elementary School 10F1,No.6 Ln. 125 Xinchun St. Danshui DistNew Taipei City 251, TaiwanE-mail: tzuying.w168@msa.hinet.net

Reference

Bell, W. (2003). Foundations of futures studies: History, purpose, and knowledge. Vol 1. NewBrunswick, London: Transaction Publishers.