Framtidsbilder i offentligt utredande. : Teknik, utbildning och samhällsutveckling

Sammanfattning: Introduction of a bill to the Swedish parliament is often preceded by a commission of inquiry. The role played by government commissions on policymaking and their consensus-promoting function are the underlying motives for this dissertation on images of the future in commission reports.The dissertation deals with three Swedish commissions of inquiry and reports presenting the work, deliberations, and proposals of each: the 1960 and the 1976 Commissions on Upper Secondary Schools, and the 1978 Commission on Computerization in Working Life. How are changes in society outlined? What salient vision emerges from the meeting between people and technology? What role is assigned to education?The concept public image can aid our understanding of how a related concept images of the future is dealt with in commission reports. A universal image is created which can be commission-specific or applicable to an entire social culture. In the latter case, continuance is a tacit part of the image. The idea that progress springs from technological expansion has considerably influenced Swedish attitudes toward existence as a realistic is. Other universal valuations are people-oriented, and encompass a moral dimension, a universal ought. Simplified, an image of the future is a meeting between is and ought. This type of generally held image whether specific for a commission or generally applicable to an entire social culture - is assigned considerable significance in this dissertation: what problems are brought to the fore, what relations become pivotal and what courses of action are deemed viable.The study at hand shows that symbolic images such as "softer society", "changing society" and "information society" are important for completing images of the future by serving as a synthesis.