Futures studies is a new field of inquiry involving systematic and explicit thinking about alternative futures. It aims to demystify the future, make possibilities for the future more known to us, and increase human control over the future. This book summarizes and expands contributions of futurists to the envisioning power and well-being of humanity. Bell brings together futurist intellectual tools, describing and explaining not only the methods, but also the nature, concepts, theories, and exemplars of the field.Foundations of Futures Studies fulfills Bell's five main purposes for writing this two-volume effort: (1) to show that futures studies, like other fields from anthropology to zoology, exists as an identifiable sphere of intellectual activity; (2) to create a teaching instrument that can be used as a basic text for core courses in futures studies; (3) to futurize the thinking of specialists in other disciplines; (4) to contribute to the further development and improvement of futures studies; and (5) to provide tools to empower both ordinary people and leaders to act in ways that create better futures for themselves and their societies. Bell maintains that despite its sometimes doomsday rhetorical style and widespread use by special interests, futures studies offers hope for the future of humanity and concrete ways of realizing that hope in the real world of our everyday lives. It will appeal to all interested in futures studies, as well as sociologists, economists, political scientists, and historians.

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This second volume, in a two-volume set reporting the results from the Monitoring the Future study, presents the results of the 1977 through 1998 follow-up surveys of the graduating high school classes of 1976 through 1997 as they have progressed through young adulthood. This current study, which draws the college sample in the senior year of high school, has considerable advantages for generating a broadly representative sample of the college students to emerge from each graduating cohort. It has "before, during, and after" college measures, which permit the examination of change. It also has similar panel data on the high school graduates who did not attend college. In order for this volume to stand alone, some material from Volume I is repeated. Chapters 2 and 3 in this volume are the same as Chapters 2 and 3 in Volume I, since one provides an overview of the key findings and the other explains the study's design and procedures. Chapter titles include: (1) "Introduction of Volume II"; (2) "Overview of Key Findings"; (3) "Study Design and Procedures"; (4) "Prevalence of Drug Use among Young Adults"; (5) "Trends in Drug Use among Young Adults"; (6) "Attitudes and Beliefs about Drugs among Young Adults"; (7) "The Social Milieu for Young Adults"; (8) "Prevalence of Drug Use among College Students"; and (9) "Trends in Drug Use among College Students." (Contains 30 tables and 66 figures.) (JDM)