Narrating the Future: Population Aging and the Demographic Imaginary in Thailand

Middle-aged, working- and middle-class people in urban Northern Thailand are using demographic categories to imagine their future identities as senior citizens'. I here introduce the term demographic imaginary to provide a conceptual framework for understanding how characterizations of the population at large are constructed, take hold, and shape group identification. More than simply justification for study and action, demographic categories and prognoses are key components of the social world made visible in narratives at the micro- and macro-social levels. With careful ethnographic attention to the stories people tell and those they refuse, I argue a synchronic future is at play in the present, underscoring the importance of narratives about the future for the lived experience of today.