Popular images of the future: Cross-national survey results, 1981 and 1991

This article explores the general public's preference for certain economic, social and technological developments in the near future. Our data are provided by interviews with national sample surveys of the adult population in the USA, Canada and Mexico which were conducted in the 1980s and 1990s. Employing factor analysis, we find that there are two basic sets of alternatives in the future preferences—preferences favouring or opposing materialism and post-materialism. People's alternative responses on these two dimensions yield a fourfold typology of future preferences. There are social divisions in support of the alternatives and in support of the four types of futures. The results show that social class, gender, age, educational status and nation of residence affect people's preferences for the future. This social differentation is predictable from the theories of dominant ideology and post-materialism. However, the social differentiation is not marked in terms of variance explained. Implications of the results for theories about the future are briefly discussed.