The image of a “bright future”: the problem of sociocultural strategies

The article is devoted to the subjective aspects of shaping the image of the future: spontaneous and conscious strategies of believing the future as positive, desirable, “bright”. The authors turn to essayistic-artistic, and ideological-conceptual ways to create a targeted positive image of the future, as well as emphasize the role of public sentiments, which have a public consciousness to positive aspirations and hope. As the nucleus of any positive idea of what is to come, the article considers the ideal concept, purposefully created within the framework of ideology. It is a temporal contradiction, appearing at once both supra-temporal and future-oriented. According to the authors, the best option for the ideal of a “future society” is one that maximizes the aspirations of the majority of the population, but in reality sociocultural groups are in complex relationships associated with the divergence of economic, social and ethno-cultural interests. Therefore, it may not be about the “ideal” but about the “ideals” of the future, which are in a relationship of polemics. This applies to both the contradiction between the haves and the have-nots, and between “progressives” and “traditionalists” who have different social ideals. The authors emphasize at the same time that the positive image of the future always belongs to living people, so any “themes of the past” in it is modernized and actively interpreted. The article also considers two options for the discretion of the future as “light”: a variant of evolutionary states and revolutionary moods.