Frederik Lodewijk Polak (21 May 1907, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

– 17 September 1985, in

Wassenaar Wassenaar (; population: in ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and Dorp (town), town located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, on the western coast of the Netherlands. An affluent suburb of The ...

) was one of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

founding fathers of

futures studies Futures studies, futures research, futurism or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will l ...

, perhaps best known in the field for theorising the central role of imagined alternative futures in his classic work ''The Image of the Future''.

Life and work

Polak was the son of Alexander Polak, violin builder and concertmaster of the

Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklĳk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the "R ...

, and Janet Kiek, who founded the first Home Economics Budget Bureau. He studied law and economics in Amsterdam and, before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, was a member of the Board of Directors of a large chain of stores in the Netherlands. In 1936 he married the poet Louise Moor. As a Jew, Polak spent the war years in hiding and preparing a PhD thesis in philosophy. After the war he became a staff member and managing director of the Netherlands' Central Planning Bureau, personal advisor to the Minister of Education (Art and Science), advisor of the Dutch government for Full Employment, Professor of Sociology at

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humani ...

and Managing Director of an industrial organization at Twente (

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

). Polak was a Senator for the (Social-Democratic) Labour Party and later became a cofounder of the political party DS70br>
Polak graduated cum laude in philosophy in 1946, and since his thesis and inaugural address in 1947 on the evolution of science and society of tomorrow, devoted himself continuously to the future of man and society. Author of many publications on futurology, Polak was recipient of Fellowships from

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, and the Council of Europe which awarded him a prize for the two-volume book ''The Image of the Future''. He was the founder and first president of Teleac (Dutch television academy), co-founder and vice-president of the Erasmus Prize Foundation, and scientific advisor for long-term planning to numerous concerns in the Netherlands. He was engaged in setting up an institute for long-term future research and development in the Netherlands and was also Secretary-General of the International Society for Technology Assessment.

Reception

A 2005 article by Ruud van der Helm states:Van der Helm, R., The Future According to Frederik Lodewijk Polak: Finding the Roots of Contemporary Futures Studies, ''Futures'' 37(2005) 505-519 (Elsevier Publishers) "Among the founders of the futures studies field, the Dutch sociologist Fred Polak is one of the least known. Although he is still mentioned by several renowned futurists, very little has been written about the evolution of Polak’s ideas and as far as we have been able to trace back, no retrospective work has been published. Today, Polak is mostly known for his opus magnum ''The Image of the Future'', an impressive cultural-historic study of the relation between imagined futures and the dynamics of culture. He was an original thinker, but his work was remarkably uneven: his encyclopaedic and erudite style has led to both very deep and very shallow analyses. Especially his earlier contributions in the 1950s and 1960s still prove a very valuable resource, although many of his ideas should be handled with care. However, his later works in the 1970s are out of tune with the rise of a more critical approach to the study of the future."

Selected publications

''The Image of the Future''
* Kennen en keuren in de sociale wetenschappen (dissertatie Rotterdam, 1947) * De wentelgang der wetenschap en de maatschappij van morgen (inaugurele rede Rotterdam, 1948) * De toekomst is verleden tijd (Utrecht, 1955), translated into Engels as 'The Image of the Future'(1973) * Hoopvolle toekomstperspectieven (1957) * De nieuwe wereld der automatie (1958) * Het hoger onderwijs: op de helling of op een hellend vlak? (1961) * Hoe veroveren wij de toekomst? (1965) * Prognostica. Two Volumes (Deventer, 1968) * Prognostica. One volume edition. (edited by Henri van Praag) * Prognostics: a science in the making surveys and creates the future. (Amsterdam, New York, 1971) * De contraclub van Rome (Amsterdam/Brussel, 1972) * Lof der botheid (Amsterdam/Brussel, 1973) * Slow-motion mens. Een dier gedoemd tot uitsterven? (Amsterdam/Brussel, 1977) * Vermetelste uitdaging. Leeft de Nieuwe Hemel in harmonie met God? (Alphen aan den Rijn, 1979) * Wereldvrede blijft. Hoe Goliath door David met een ultraklein wapen opnieuw kan worden geveld (Baarn, 1983) * Morgen is anders. De wedloop tussen mensen en kunst-mensen (Baarn, 1985)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polak, Fred 1907 births 1985 deaths Dutch civil servants Dutch sociologists Dutch Jews Dutch corporate directors Jewish Dutch politicians Jewish socialists Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Democratic Socialists '70 politicians Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Futurologists Businesspeople from Amsterdam University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of Erasmus University Rotterdam Directors of the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis