• Mark Fisher – Building on the idea of lost futures, Fisher’s works (such as Capitalist Realism) examine how contemporary society is trapped by the residues of bygone dreams and ideologies. He shows how nostalgia and recurring aesthetics work to sustain unchallenged social orders.

• Fredric Jameson – His analysis of postmodern culture often considers how history and past modes of thought resurface in cyclic, sometimes ghostly ways. This perspective complements Berlant’s notion by illustrating how ideological attachments persist even as they prevent genuine change.

• Simon Reynolds – Reynolds, in works like Retromania, explores cultural fascination with the past. His insights into the recirculation of old styles and ideas highlight the aesthetic dimension of hauntology, where past promises continually influence the present.

• Slavoj Žižek – Though approaching from a Lacanian and Hegelian angle, Žižek frequently discusses how ideological fantasies and unfulfilled historical possibilities sustain current social and political structures—resonating with the concept of cruel optimism.

Each of these thinkers contributes to a broader conversation about how our attachments to idealized or outdated visions of the future maintain and even shape existing societal conditions. Their work collectively invites us to question the value and potential harm of clinging to unattainable promises, as well as explore paths toward imagining alternative futures.