Design and its future responsabilities

It would be naive to define what design will be like in the future, even if it were only within a few decades. The only thing we can do is to anayse the general ideas upon which the history of design subsists and project onto them the sugnificant events which are shaping social behaviour and deduce their effects in the field of design projection. To this end, the tradition symbolic/utilitarian relationship which implies a society hierarchically divided into classes has been closen. Evidently, throughout the course of the history of design, the balance between these values has fluctuated according to the socially prevalent cultures and ideologies in each era.
Currently, the phenomena of globalisation has emphasised this division whereas the serious political and military conflicts being undergone by humanity foretell huge economic and social changes which undoubtedly call for a redefinition of design practice.