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Concept
Degrowth
Summary
Degrowth (décroissance) is a term used for both a political, economic, and social movement as well as a set of theories that criticise the paradigm of economic growth. Degrowth is based on ideas from political ecology, ecological economics, feminist political ecology, and environmental justice, arguing that social and ecological harm is caused by the pursuit of infinite growth and Western "development" imperatives.
Degrowth argues for a reduction in global consumption and production (social metabolism) and advocates a socially just and ecologically sustainable society with social and environmental well-being replacing gross domestic product (GDP) as the indicator of prosperity. Degrowth aims for social reorganisation that modifies the flow and usage of material. This restructuring aims to shift away from mainstream (capitalist) economic activity. While GDP is likely to shrink in a "degrowth society", i.e. in a society in which the objectives of the degrowth movement are achieved, this is not the primary objective of degrowth. The main argument of degrowth is that an infinite expansion of the economy is fundamentally contradictory to the finiteness of the Earth. Degrowth highlights the importance of care work, self-organization, commons, community, open localism, and work sharing.
The "degrowth" movement arose from concerns over the consequences of the productivism and consumerism associated with industrial societies (whether capitalist or socialist) including:
The reduced availability of energy sources (see peak oil)
The declining quality of the environment (see Anthropocene, global warming, pollution, current biodiversity loss)
The decline in the health of flora and fauna upon which humans depend (see Holocene extinction)
The rise of negative societal side-effects (see unsustainable development, poorer health, poverty)
The ever-expanding use of resources by First World countries to satisfy lifestyles that consume more food and energy, and produce greater waste, at the expense of the Third World (see neocolonialism)
In 2017, Inês Cosme and colleagues summarised the research literature on degrowth, finding that it focussed on three main goals: (1) reduction of environmental degradation; (2) redistribution of income and wealth locally and globally; (3) promotion of a social transition from economic materialism to participatory culture.
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