Communities of publics where citizens together develop informed opinion as basis for political decisions is crucial to democracy; and adult education can contribute vitally to such communities. This was argued by two critical social scientists, Charles Wright Mills and Oskar Negt. Researching and writing in different situations and drawing on different traditions, they voiced many of the same concerns about the inequalities and contradictions of modern capitalist societies. Mills and Negt argued that citizens and publics need to grasp the interrelations between society at large and individual lives and troubles. It is also necessary to transgress the immediate reality and its options, to imagine how societies and lives could take different turns, both in negative and positive directions. This article makes a case that imaginative fiction literature can help critical social science and adult education in promoting such social imagination. 

中文翻译：

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公共理性、成人教育与社会想象

公民共同形成知情意见作为政治决策基础的公共社区对民主至关重要；成人教育可以为这些社区做出重大贡献。两位重要的社会科学家查尔斯·赖特·米尔斯（Charles Wright Mills）和奥斯卡·内格特（Oskar Negt）提出了这一观点。他们在不同的情况下研究和写作，借鉴不同的传统，对现代资本主义社会的不平等和矛盾表达了许多相同的担忧。米尔斯和内格特认为，公民和公众需要把握整个社会与个人生活和麻烦之间的相互关系。也有必要超越眼前的现实及其选择，想象社会和生活如何在消极和积极的方向上发生不同的转变。