How social imaginaries influence the range of responses to Anthropocene challenges

Thesis Defence
How social imaginaries influence the range of responses to Anthropocene challenges

Philip Glynn will publicly defend his thesis.

June 18, 2025
10:00-11:30 (CET)
Amphi M1026 at ESCP Montparnasse Campus or Online via Zoom

Attend the defence

Abstract

The challenge of formulating sustainable management responses to the Anthropocene is, fundamentally, a social one. Social imaginaries have the potential to influence the range of responses managers perceive to be possible. This thesis employs the social imaginary as a theoretical tool to understand this influence in a variety of contexts. In part 1, the authors engage with the results of a fiction writing workshop in which managers imagined how businesses would operate under extreme environmental stress beyond the year 2050. In part 2, by creating a fictional news article describing a sustainable business model, the authors engage with impact investors to examine what influences the resonance of entrepreneurial stories. In part 3, through a socio-political reading of circular economy case studies, the authors explore alternative models for circular societies, their potential and their limitations. Taken together, these three parts demonstrate how various theoretical approaches—supply chain orientation, paradox perspective, cultural entrepreneurship theory and the archetypes of Anthropocene Society—can inform each other and potentially lead to a broader range of imaginaries.

Keywords: IMAGINARIES, CIRCULAR ECONOMY, CULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP, IMPACT INVESTING, STORIES, FUTURE, ANTHROPOCENE

Jury