Unlocking social imagination: breaking free from fatalism

Posted on: 8 July 2025 by Mark Swift in Blog

In part two of a three-part series on social imagination, Heseltine Institute visiting fellow Mark Swift discusses the importance of tackling fatalism in public policy.

If social imagination is the key to unlocking more humane, equitable, and resilient public systems, then one of the greatest barriers we face is not just institutional inertia - it's fatalism.

In the first part of this series, I explored how imagination helps us see beyond short-term crisis management and invites us to design public services rooted in hope, equity and collective purpose. But vision alone isn’t enough. In this second post, I acknowledge that we must first contend with a deep cultural current that resists change before it even begins: the quiet force of fatalism.

The quiet power of fatalism

Fatalism is the voice that says: “we’ve always done it this way”. It lives in backroom whispers and weary shrugs. It shows up in the form of learned helplessness - among public servants overwhelmed by demand, among policymakers hemmed in by short-term cycles, and among communities who have been let down too many times to trust again.

We see it daily - in health, housing, social care, climate policy, and education. A sense that the system is too large, too fragmented, too politically fragile to be reimagined. Over time, fatalism narrows our field of vision. It turns bold ideas into idealism. It erodes the collective will to act.

But fatalism is not a fixed state. It is a narrative - and narratives can be re-written.

As sociologist Erving Goffman taught us, the frame through which we view a situation shapes what we believe is possible. In public systems, the dominant frame has too often been one of strain, scarcity, and survival. This lens doesn’t just reduce options - it discourages imagination altogether.

What if we changed the lens?

Reframing as a first act of imagination

Reframing is not about PR. It’s not about spinning a different story around the same system. Reframing means changing what’s visible, what’s valued, and who gets to decide.

In my own work, I’ve seen how the story being told can dictate what work gets funded, which communities are included, and which solutions are deemed legitimate. In one programme, simply shifting how we spoke about local families - from “at risk” to “asset-rich” - changed who sat at the table, and what solutions emerged. The real work wasn’t just organisational. It was ontological - about who we think people are and what we believe they’re capable of.

This is where imagination begins to become structural.

And we’re not without inspiration. History is filled with moments when reframing has changed what was possible - not just in theory, but in policy and practice.

Three times the frame shifted - and the world with it

1. Black Lives Matter - from individual incidents to structural injustice

What began as a hashtag became a global reframing. The movement shifted public discourse away from isolated police misconduct and toward systemic racism across institutions.

It made visible what had long been denied - and forced institutions to acknowledge that inequity is not accidental but designed. It spurred reviews of policing, schooling, media, and philanthropy. It seeded action.

From “bad apples” to broken systems. From silence to solidarity.

2. Universal Basic Income - from welfare to shared security

UBI was long viewed as a fringe idea. But global pilots helped reframe it as a foundation for dignity and economic participation.

In Stockton, California, residents who received a basic income didn’t stop working - they found better jobs. They reported lower stress, improved health, and greater hope. The intervention didn’t produce dependency - it produced agency. That’s a narrative reversal.

Meanwhile, in Finland, a national two-year trial gave 2,000 unemployed people a basic income. Recipients reported greater life satisfaction, lower stress, and improved mental well-being. Far from reducing motivation, the pilot showed they were just as likely - if not more so - to find work. It also fostered a stronger sense of trust, autonomy, and confidence in the future. The real breakthrough? It reframed welfare not as a safety net for the vulnerable, but as a springboard for human potential.

From conditional aid to universal trust. From scarcity to sufficiency.

3. Doughnut Economics - from growth to thriving

Kate Raworth’s doughnut model challenged the GDP growth paradigm by offering a vivid alternative: a space where human needs are met within planetary boundaries.

This visual, values-driven frame has helped cities like Amsterdam and Brussels rethink policy around sustainability, equity, and citizen voice.  In Amsterdam, it inspired a bold commitment to become 100% circular by 2050 - meaning the city aims to eliminate waste, reuse resources, and operate entirely within environmental limits. Interim targets and sector-specific strategies are already underway. The city isn’t just experimenting - it’s embedding imagination into policy.

From extractive growth to regenerative thriving. From economics as numbers to economics as values.

These aren’t just clever reframes - they are acts of social imagination. They dared to ask different questions: not “how do we make this system work better?” but “what kind of system do we need - and who gets to design it?”

Reclaiming the frame

If we want public institutions to be more imaginative, we must start by clearing the ground of fatalism. That means:

• Challenging inherited assumptions about who holds expertise
• Validating community voice as evidence
• Recasting innovation as investment, not indulgence

This isn’t abstract. When we reframe the problem, new allies emerge. New approaches become fundable. And most importantly, people start to believe again.

Imagination doesn’t begin with money. It begins with belief - in people, in potential, and in our collective power to do things differently.

And belief begins with the story we tell ourselves about what is possible.

In the final part of this series, I’ll introduce a structured way to move from vision to action - a framework designed to help public leaders, practitioners, and communities turn imaginative thinking into concrete change.

Because imagination alone isn’t enough. But when it’s given a path - a method, a practice, a shape - it can transform not only our policies, but our public life.

Image credit: Jr Korpa on Unsplash