Facing dilemmas: Sense-making and decision-making in late modernity

Today the certainties of modernity are dissolving and there is little guidance on how to act. In late modernity, individuals and organisations are forced to take standpoints and make choices on the basis of uncertain knowledge and diverse views. It is argued that we therefore often are confronted with dilemmas. In this article, the concept of dilemma is presented as a way to understand and analyse processes of sense-making and decision-making by contemporary institutions and people. With reference to various current meanings, the concept of dilemma is elaborated and a definition is proposed that encompasses both the cognitive-emotional and the socio-cultural side of dilemma. Emphasising this duality, a research approach is suggested for empirically analysing the multidimensional dilemmas people and institutions are confronted with in late modernity. By way of conclusion, it is stated that the challenge is to not only acknowledge dilemmas, but to use them as means for opening up spaces where stakeholders can deliberate upon desirable futures.