Constructing promissory futures to defer moral scrutiny: The dilemma of healthcare austerity

Elk Sam Van, Juliane Reinecke, Susan Trenholm & Ewan Ferlie (2024) Human Relations. Online first. Abstract. How can actors use the future to politically navigate moral disputes today? This article examines how projected futures are constructed and mobilised to suspend present-day moral dilemmas. Utilising the Economies of Worth and Barbara Adam’s sociology of time, we discursively analyse the moral dilemma between civic virtues and financial savings in UK healthcare austerity (2010–2018). Th...