Stabilizing Societalization: Futurizing as Explanatory Repertoires

This paper investigates how specific causes become recognized as societal problems that require collective action and are upheld over time. Drawing upon Alexander's framework of Societalization (2019) and recent scholarship on imagined futures as vital catalysts for social action, this study investigates the role of future imaginations in framing past and contemporary occurrences as ruptures to the civil sphere. While the framework of societalization implicitly builds on the civil sphere´s anticipation of desirable futures, there is a need for more nuanced and explicit theorizing to address the role of future imaginations in delineating and upholding a cause as a societal challenge. Through a comparative analysis of divergent organizational forms and strategies employed by the English branch of Extinction Rebellion and the Danish KR Foundation, the study illustrates that the different imaginations of the future inherent in existing civil codes and “genres of scandalization” play a central role in recognizing and institutionalizing a cause's societal significance. The study contributes to our understanding of why certain problems persist over time and how entrenched solutions remain linked to them due to their characteristics as “explanatory repertoires.” Ultimately, this study emphasizes the importance of grappling with the constructs of “explanas” to identify which societal actions and actors can effectively engage with contemporary societal challenges. By highlighting the dynamic interplay between imaginations of the future and organizing strategies, this paper offers valuable insights into the processes that underpin the creation and stabilization of societalization.