The Future

Strong Opinions & The Players
Currently our nation is in a slight state of depression, not only economically, but socially, culturally, and politically as well. Due to the recession, social moods are pessimistic and cautious and our popular culture is a reflection of these moods. Also as a result is general skepticism towards our governments ability to help our nation recover. Slowly, as the population gains faith in the government coupled with our climbing economy, general social mood will become positive once again and popular culture will reflect this change.

Dominating Factors & Hidden Currents

High & Low Points

Social

Dominating Factors: Dominating our research was the idea that our society is progressively becoming more and more technological. Along with this idea, is the concept that consumers will always be able to get what they want when they want. With the increased simplification of American lives, will our society ultimately become irreversibly lazy?
Hidden Currents: With the growing divorce rate, our research also shows that there is growing equality among men and women in both the work place and the home. Does this point to a more gender neutral future?
Bad Ideas: Some of our research pointed towards the idea that the "Green Movement" is no longer effecting our society. However, due to the current state of the economy, we believe that once the economy recovers, the future of our environment will become a priority again.

Today’s Millennial Generation by Martin Nikirk

- The millennial generation is the first generation to grow up with technology integrated into their lives – cell phones, i-pods, computer, the internet, instant messaging, texting, MySpace, and Facebook accounts
- Because technology is so integrated into our society there is a growing need for “computerized clothing”
- The millennial generation will have technology to manage their homes and maintain their lives through sensors in homes and clothing that can regulate the lights, temperature, audio, video, and security
- In the future, teachers and students will no longer face a digital disconnect because teachers will be a part of the millennial generation

Nikirk, M. (2009). Today's Millennial Generation: A Look Ahead To the Future They Create. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, 84(5), 20-23. http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2077

Deflating a Myth by Mark Dolliver

- Companies will have to get greener, all right, whether they want to or not. But for their labors to resonate profitably with consumers, they'll have to deal with an admixture of skepticism and indifference, while also figuring out which audiences are most receptive to their efforts.
- There is more aspirational commitment, as opposed to real commitment, by consumers at this point to the green movement
- When it asks about specifics of green behavior, polling tends to confirm that mainstream consumers have learned to talk the talk but are still in the baby-steps phase of walking the walk.
- Consumers care more if a corporation is not going green than if they are making large efforts to go green and are more likely to punish the former than reward the latter
- people become more concerned about the environment when they have children and thus feel a long-term stake in the fate of the planet. But we also know that having kids can channel people's attention more intensely on their immediate household. The confluence of these factors makes mothers a promising audience for green-marketing efforts
- Consumers are skeptical of the reasons behind corporations going green

Dolliver, M. (2008). Deflating a Myth. Brandweek, 49(19), 30-32. http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2077

Globalization in Retreat by Roger C. Altman

- Globalization itself is reversing. The long-standing wisdom that everyone wins in a single world market has been undermined. Global trade, capital flows, and immigration are declining. It also has not gone unnoticed that nations with insulated financial systems, such as China and India, have suffered the least economic damage.
- The United States will now be focused inward and constrained by unemployment and fiscal pressures. Much of the world also blames U.S. financial excesses for the global recession. This has put the U.S. model of free-market capitalism out of favor. The deserved global goodwill toward President Barack Obama mitigates some of this, but not all of it.
- The world's three largest economies, the United States, the EU, and Japan, will not be able to generate a normal cyclical recovery. The pervasive financial damage will prevent it. As a result, nations dependent on those markets for growth, such as those in eastern Europe, will also face a long recovery. And many of the developing economies, which depend on foreign capital, have been hardest hit.
- That debt surged because Americans spent beyond their means. This reflected the wealth effect--households feeling wealthier on account of rising asset values and thus spending more. But consumers are now shell-shocked, and so that effect has been reversed. Household outflows are down, producing the unusual surge in personal savings rates that is now evident.

Altman, R. (2009). Globalization in Retreat. Foreign Affairs, 88(4), 2-7. http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2077

- Julie Clark

World Future Society: Research for Tomorrow

- Evolution and future direction of marriage:

- Marriage systems since second half of 20th century have not been encouraging

- Divorce rates are at an all time high

- A need for exploration of preferable future marriage possibilities

- Long-term evolutionary trends, gender roles, and social negotiation

- "Superlongevity Revolution"

- Radical extension of human lifespan brought by breakthroughs in biotechnology, calorie restriction, genetic engineering, and stem cell science- could all substantially reduce the death rate

- Opportunities and challenges that rapid population growth brings

- Phenomenon of people power: Hope

- Currently 40 regional and ethnic conflicts taking place worldwide

- Singlehandedly since 1990 people have been raising the thought of Democracy

- Said to be a huge jump in "People Power" throughout the next five years

"World Future Society: Research for Tomorrow." World Future Society (2007) 1-12. Web.03 Oct 2009. http://www.wfs.org.

The Future of TV

- One of the new largest television developments is On Demand, making the viewer a much more vital piece of the entertainment

- As technologies change over, the new most important quality of trends will be interactivity

- Television will begin to be much more focused on the viewer rather than the broadcaster

- As technologies progress, less and less people will be watching their selected programming at the time of air

- The idea of making a show available online at a certain release date for everyone to view from then on is going to become a much more popular theme

- Reality television and sporting events will still require a live audience or timely broadcast to keep their viewers enthralled, but it seems to be a much different situation for series television

Warman, M. (2009, September 24). The future of tv. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/reviews/6226172/The-future-of-TV.html

The Future Is Cheese

- Serialized format of television, meaning stories that stretch over the span of an entire season, rather that each individual episode, are having a rough time with ratings

- Because of DVR and online streaming this type of show has seen a decline

- The serialized way of television was much more popular when you could, or had to, watch it at the time of it's airing

- "Amid an economic downturn that’s calling into question most old-school business strategies, the underpinnings of much of the mainstream television business are coming unstuck—and the first casualty may be the profusion of triple-decker, lavishly produced, scripted television that we’ve all taken for granted."

- This brings an interesting shift to the television that has remained popular for years and what it's new outcome will be

- Television networks are no longer making as much as they used to

- A decrease in watched television and ratings of common shows will most likely create a spike in the marketing of their corresponding products such as name branded paraphernalia and DVD sales

- Shows such as American Idol and Dancing With the Stars can still captivate culture for a moment due to the fact that their shows remain watched live, and are then voted on by the public in a set time frame

- Sitcom shows that feature commercials and would be preferable to watch at one's own pace are much more likely to become victims of an online streaming only trend

Hirschorn, M. (2009, March). The future is cheese. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200903/television

Future Social Trends and Expectations of the Next Generation of Older Users of Domotics

- Societal and social trends: demographic shift (increasing proportion of older people, particularly strong growth among the very old, trend towards living alone, reduction in the size of households, shrinking family networks, families diminishing potential to care for older individuals), changes in health (improved health status among younger cohorts, increased period of life free from serious chronic illness or impairments), and changes in biographical experiences (increased prosperity, increased poverty at the same time, fragile family relationships, changes in working life with fragile careers, technological developments affecting private and public life)

- Changes in attitudes and expectations of the next generation: extended periods of living alone, improved standards of living, increased experience with new technologies, more active and mobile lifestyles, increased awareness of one's body and health, new meanings of technology

Mollenkopf, H., & Wahl, H.W. (2002). Future societal trends and expectations of the next generation of older users of domotics. Retrieved from http://www.sentha.tu-berlin.de/paper/mollenkopf_miami.pdf

- Jen Peterson

Cultural

Dominating Factors: In the current state of the economy, our culture is literally in a state of depression. Current television, film, and music indicates either a direct reflection of this mood or an escape from the current state. Will this mood continue and have a lasting affect on our culture?
Hidden Currents: As population and immigration continue to rapidly increase, our society will indeed be affected, but how? Perhaps our culture will continue to diversify even more as the "melting pot" of America becomes less unified. On the other hand, our culture could go in the direction of complete unification with a society completely different than the rest of the world.
Bad Ideas: With the popularization of vampires, is this a reflection of our culture? Most likely, our future does not entail a great increase in cannibalism, however, the attitudes of vampires, such as low morality and sexual promiscuity, could be more prevalent in future generations.

Popular Culture and the Economy by Don Cusic and Greogory K. Faulk

- Consumers vote for the most ‘‘popular’’ cultural items with their pocketbooks
- Trends in popular culture spending reflect shifting tastes.
- Consumers spend more money on entertainment that they can see and hear than they do on print-based media or sound recordings.
- media-based companies produce about two-thirds of the output of popular culture industries.
- Cultural products are identified as those that directly express attitudes, opinions, ideas, values, and artistic creativity.

Cusic D., & Faulk, G. (2009). Popular Culture and the Economy. Journal of Popular Culture, 42(3), 458-479. http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2077, doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2009.00690.x

Facing the Music by Morris Dickstein

- This article links the compares the effects of the Depression with the likely impact of the current recession, especially on young adults. One way to give substance to that comparison is to consider the role played by the lively arts in hard times
- In times of stagnation, rampant fears, and blighted hopes, the arts become a force in bolstering morale and getting people moving again.
- Besides conveying the joy and superlative grace of movement, dance in films and television became a metaphor for the need of beleaguered people to link up and hang together. (most recently the film “Fame” and the television series “Glee”)
- Novelists are beginning to employ details and the ability to portray contracted, wayward lives, which would hold them in a good mood if they turned their attention to the effects of the recession, especially the loss of jobs and enforced idleness.
- For tomorrow's television viewers we can safely predict a glut of upholstered period and costume dramas, as well as game shows, talent competitions, and reality shows, which are cheap to produce and which satisfy the audience's hunger for sudden changes in fame and fortune.

Dickstein, M. (2009). Facing the Music. American Scholar, 78(4), 91-95. http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2077

Necks Overflowing With Rivers of Metaphor by Gina Bellafante

- HBO’s series “True Blood” has become an allegory for nearly every strain of tension in American life
- the show seemed predicated on an interest in the retail addict’s belief that we’re made of what we buy.
- Despite the progress they’ve made, vampires, like women bent on avoiding Botox, still can’t subject themselves to the murderous effects of sunlight.
- “True Blood” isn’t interested in what we buy; it cares whether we really are who we sleep with.
- In the show, vampires are discriminated against much like gays and lesbians are discriminated against in our society

Bellafante, G. (2009, August 28). Necks Overflowing With Rivers of Metaphor. New York Times, p. 1. http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2077

Is 2009 the Most Depressing Year Ever at the Movies by Ramin Setoodeh

- This years movie themes include incest, murder, AIDS, cancer, abuse, layoffs, and lots of unexpected, tragic deaths.
- This fall's slate was written at the end of the Bush administration, when most of Hollywood—at least the predominantly liberal part—was under a cloud of gloom. Now, we're all feeling gloomy; the economy is in tatters, and the unemployment rate continues to soar.
- Makes comparison to movies released following The Great Depression and movies following the current recession
- While more depressive movies are being released as a relfection of writer and director moods, top box office hits are escapist movies such as “Harry Potter” and “Transformers” that allow us to forget about the current reality

Setoodeh, R. (2009). Is 2009 the Most Depressing Year Ever at the Movies. Newsweek. http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/popvox/archive/2009/10/09/is-2009-the-most-depressing-year-ever-at-the-movies.aspx

- Julie Clark

World Future Society: Research for Tomorrow

- "Of all of the issues we face, none is more important than population growth" - National Geographic on population

- Total number of people on the planet is projected to increase to 9 billion by 2050

- We have an average net increase of population by 200,000 people every 24 hours!

- Possibilities of social tension, hunger, poverty, and disease

- Movement towards complex, whole-systems thinking for the 21st century

- Recognize both unity and diversity within systems

- Great diversity of species, cultures, and religious/spiritual traditions in an increasingly independent world

- Advance toward 400 million

- Increase in population will be unevenly distributed among nations and geographic regions

- Russia and Europe will contract

- United States and India will rapidly grow

- U.S. population reached 300 million in 2006, and is said to reach 400 million by 2050

- Future of gender roles

- Men's superior physical strength is no longer needed (nor his sperm because there is enough frozen to maintain the globe's population

- Function of Y chromosome is going downhill

- Impact of women is substantially growing

- Women's interests, values, and needs are much different than mens' in society

- Could experience male backlash- aggression against women

- Genders potentially chemically created?

- A shift in culture to either neutral genders or a huge diversity gap

- Changing face of the future

- 2043: "More black, more brown, less white, more asian"

- Nearly half of America's children under the age of 5 are of racial minorities

- Immigration

- Current problem, but growing so exponentially fast that if not handled now, it will be unmanageable in the future

"World Future Society: Research for Tomorrow." World Future Society (2007) 1-12. Web.03 Oct 2009. http://www.wfs.org.

Social Entrepreneurship: New Ways of Working, Future Trends and Opportunities?

- In the cultural field, more people are working together across sectorial disciplines and in innovative ways.

- "We need to find new actions, more sustainability, we are in a cultural crisis, not only in a financial crisis, [and] because there is a lack of trust in institutions and organisations, and the values we agree on, there is a lack of shared meaning."

(2009, October). Social entrepreneurship: new ways of working, future trends and opportunities?. Retrieved from http://ifacca.org/publications/2009/10/06/social-entrepreneurship-new-ways-working-future-tr/

- Jen Peterson