Examining alternative futures: Theoretical considerations

In consequence of world population growth, technological dependence and natural resource depletion, mankind, especially in the developed world, which operates with a free-trade tradition, faces unprecedented challenges to civilised survival. Following the Harrison Brown precedent in assessing the dynamics of social systems' responses to survival pressures, the authors have selected themes of theoretical social science and juxtaposed them for insights into the nature of and paths to our collective future, here characterised in three alternative scenarios.